Annabeth's boarding tale
by Bethpjf
Summary: Annabeth Chase is going to a new school; a boarding school which allows mixed genders. She makes new friends, attends parties, gets into trouble and has romantic interests. She goes through the ups and downs of a teenager- but can she survive it? Includes a variety of characters from PJ and HOO.
1. Chapter 1 Drop Off

Annabeth stood at the gates of her new school, at least that's what it's called but it was more of a mansion than a school. A few of the bricks looked a bit dated yet it created a sense of history to the building. That black metal gate was well designed with spirals weaving in and out, presenting the school as modern and sophisticated. Her dad came up behind her and dropped the bags that he had just hauled out of the car with a sigh of relief and rested his hand on her shoulder. "I think you'll like this one" he said with a beaming smile, Annabeth roled her eyes "You said that last time".

Annabeth wasn't a troubled child but her dad moved around a lot for his job and consequently she was always getting dragged along. It was her last year of school so her dad had decided that she should remain in one place; a boarding school. He had given her a long and boring speech about how he didn't want to keep disrupting her education and that this year she really needed to focus and have minimal distractions. Like she didn't know that, she was getting straight A's in every subject even with always swapping schools. Annabeth suspected a different reason for attending boarding school though, she never really made any friends, she would just spend her free time reading. Why bother making friends if you're only going to move again? She believed that her father was sending her to boarding school for a chance to make friends, it's not like she can't do it, she just chose not to. Means she had no roots left anywhere.

They had looked at other boarding schools, some of the best in the country but this one seemed to stand out. This one was unique and not just because it was a boarding school which accepted different genders but something else that Annabeth couldn't quite figure out. She had narrowed down her choices of boarding schools and spread their leaflets across the dining room table and she remembers just being drawn to this one. Maybe that was was part of the reason she chose it, she could have ignored that tugging feeling but instead she let it pull her in. She wants to, no not wants to, needs to, find out what is so special about this place and why she followed her gut instead of her head.

"Do you need me to come in with you?"

"It's ok Dad, I think I've got this" she secured her satchel and grabbed the bags with both hands and started walking towards the school.

"Right...well... I love you, try and stay in touch? " his voice went higher at the end and Annabeth wondered whether he was questioning her ability to stay in touch or his.

"Get outta here or you'll be late"

"Alright Alright" he muttered before he got in the car.

Annabeth paused on the top of the stairs and waved him goodbye. She turned back to the door and took a deep breathe. This will be fine, she thought to herself, nothing she can't handle.


	2. Chapter 2 Room Mate

Annabeth's meeting with the headteacher had gone well, he mentioned again how he was impressed with her grades and they had a particularly long discussion about architecture. He advised her that if she wanted to become an architect and design her own buildings, she should stay here for the following academic year where she could combine her 2 favourite subjects (History and Archictecture) and go on a wide range of trips where other schools wouldn't go. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves though" he laughed and fell backwards into his chair, "we've got this year to focus on first" he let his fingers slide into one another like the villains do in the film, "Come, let me take you to your room" he pushed the chair backwards and walked around his desk and held the door open. Annabeth promptly followed.

As he guided her to her room he talked about the history of the building and a little about himself, it was actually built in 1847 and was previously owned by a Dutch billionaire who used the building as a mansion (just like Annabeth had suspected) but he never had any family so when he passed away the government claimed it and turned it into a boarding school. They added additional buildings as the years passed so that it could cope with the capacity of students and provide high standard class rooms. The school was originally gender specific, only allowing boys but when Mr Chiron took over as headmaster in 2010, he changed it to a non gender specific boarding school. He told Annabeth that he felt it unfair to discriminate over such a ridiculous issue and that it was important for us to learn how to interact with the opposing gender but how could he teach that if the students were separated?

They finally arrived at her door, he opened it for her as she was carrying her bags. Mr Chiron did offer to take a bag but she politely refused, she was too stubborn to admit when she needed help. Her roommate was sitting on the end of her bed with her laptop and headphones on, her unopened bags dumped around her bed. The girl flickered her eyes towards Annabeth but then back to the computer screen. Annabeth stared in disbelief that her roommate had just ignored her, she went to look at Mr Chiron but the girl closed her laptop and slid her headphones around her neck. She jumped off and walked to Annabeth, "I am so sorry, it didn't properly register that you were my new roommate". Oh great, Annabeth thought, I've got to share a room with her. The girl held her hand out and Annabeth could really admire her beauty now, she was tanned and Annabeth figured she had a Cherokee descent. Her chocolate-brown hair was cut choppy and the girl had an incredible set of eyes, they seemed to change colour depending on how you were positioned, originally Annabeth thought they were brown but as she got closer they looked more like a blue but as they stood opposite each other now, the light appeared to show green eyes. What really caught Annabeth's attention was this girls smile, she had the type of contagious smile where you couldn't help but smile at the sight of her smiling. Her teeth were perfectly straight and white. Annabeth wondered whether they would get along, surely someone as pretty as her had to be the most popular girl in school, she wouldn't want someone like Annabeth as a roommate let alone a friend.

Annabeth suddenly came back into reality as she realised that the girl was still waiting to shake hands. Annabeth placed her bags on the floor and took the girl's hand firmly, "Hi, I'm Annabeth Chase", "wow that's a pretty name, I'm Piper McLean". Annabeth let out a nervous smile whilst Piper produced a beaming one, "So I haven't unpacked my bags yet because I thought it would be fun to do it together?" Piper suggested, Annabeth thought it was more likely that Piper needed help deciding where to put everything. "Well I can see you girls are going to get along so I'll leave you to it" Mr Chiron interrupted, "but Piper could you give Annabeth the 'real tour' as you kids say and tell Annabeth the rules regarding rooms" Mr Chiron raised his eyebrows when he mentioned 'rulesregarding rooms', Annabeth looked at Piper who was turning red "Yes sir" she responded. Once Mr Chiron had left Piper ran over and shut the door, /span"I take it you've been here before?" Annabeth asked curiously, although already sure of the answer,

"I've been here since I was 12, so this will be my 4th year"

"Oh wow, so you would know the rules and the 'real tour'"

"Ok so room rules, we have to be back in our own room by 11PM on a school night and 1AM on a Friday or Saturday", "Wow it really is relaxed here" Annabeth said as she started unpacking her bags, Piper walked over to her stuff and unziped a suitcase. "Well Mr Chiron understands that we have friends of the opposite gender so we do like to hang out a lot. As long as it doesn't interfere with our studies, he doesn't see why there should be a problem"

"and you went red like a tomato because..."

"Well last year there was an incident regarding a boy and a girl who broke the rules"

Annabeth raised one eyebrow, "Let me take a wild guess and saythe girl was you". Piper went bright red again and got really embarrassed and turned back to her suitcase to start unpacking, Annabeth let out a light hearted laugh. "Oh come on, I'm the newbie you have to fill me in on all the gossip!"

"Nothing bad happened, this guy was round helping teach me some French and we didn't realise the time before it was too late"

"This guy was teaching you the language of love and nothing happened?!"

"I didn't say that! I just said nothing bad happened!"

"So you guys kissed!" Annabeth asked, Piper got all embarrassed again. "Have you guys spoke about it?"

"How do you know that we aren't together?"

"I'm wise, now come on spill" Annabeth sat down on her bed,

Piper looked at her in disbelief, she couldn't believe that she was telling a girl she met less than half an hour ago her life story, Piper let out a sigh and then told Annabeth, "We haven't spoke all summer"

Annabeth was gobsmacked, what idiot would kiss her and then not at least try to tie her down. "Exactly" Piper said, as if she was answering Annabeth's thoughts,

"Maybe he's been busy?" She suggested

"All summer?"

"There's a logical explanation, there must be"

"There's no logical explanation for kissing a boy and then never hearing from him"

"Well did you message him?" Annabeth questioned,

Piper opened her mouth to answer but shut it almost immediately, Annabeth sensed that Piper was finished talking about this boy. She looked at her half unpacked bag and Pipers still very much full suitcase. "How about you give me this student tour, give us a break from unpacking?" Annabeth suggested, "We can always finish unpacking later". Piper didn't move her head from looking at the suitcase, 'How have I managed to make a friend and then lose them within 20 minutes?!' Annabeth thought to herself. Piper's phone buzzed and she looked down at her text, then looked up at Annabeth, Annabeth couldn't work out if she looked scared or excited. "You know the 'real tour' isn't such a bad idea!" Without a moment to spare, Piper jumped up and grabbed Annabeth's arm and dragged her out the door.


	3. Chapter 3 The Group

"Woah slow down Piper" Annabeth yelled as Piper clung onto her wrist as they ran down the twirly wooden stair case. Piper threw her a look as if she wasn't allowed to say her name in public, "where are we going anyway? And why are we running there?" When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they stopped. Piper gave a quick look around and opened the door immediately on the left and pushed Annabeth inside and swiftly stepped in before shutting the door. Annabeth had been pushed into a classroom, from the posters on the wall it looked like a history one, she would have to remember where this was, she spun back around to face Piper.

"What the hell is going on?!" Annabeth demanded,

"Ok, so I got a text saying that he had arrived"

"He?" Annabeth completely confused,

"Him, the guy I was telling you about" Piper sounded agitated,

"Soooo we've left to avoid him or to spy on him?"

"Neither, we are going to casually bump into him and most likely the rest of the group whilst I give you the tour" Piper spoke quickly

"That sounds more like stalking to me" Annabeth mumbled.

"Look I need you to help me with this ok and I can introduce you to my group of friends of which I am sure you will love and they will love you too!" Piper was looking at Annabeth with pleading eyes "Please Annabeth"

Annabeth refused to meet Piper's eyes so she stood there with her arms folded. A few moments passed and she sneaked a quick look at Piper to see if she was still attempting the puppy eyes. She was. And now Piper had caught her looking so she had to cave, Annabeth sighed "fine let's go". Piper was so grateful she gave Annabeth a hug which made Annabeth feel uncomfortable because she had never been hugged by anyone that wasn't family, she wasn't really sure what to do in this sort of situation so she left her arms by her side .

They left the room and took a couple of right turns where they passed the swimming pool, student area (a room filled with comfy chairs, a TV and vending machines), the library (where Annabeth would probably spend the majority of her time) until they reached the canteen. It was packed with students but none of them had their bags, they had probably done the same as her and Piper and unpacked (well at least one of them had almost unpacked) and then decided to come downstairs. "Remember I'm giving you the student tour" Piper whispered to Annabeth as she stretched her head upwards to search for her friends, "Come on I think they're outside in the usual spot". They squeezed past the other students with a few of the boys making wolf whistles, although Annabeth was fairly confident they were aimed at Piper and not her. Once they got outside, the patio was also filled with students having cold drinks and laughing, most likely catching up about their events over the summer. Piper grabbed Annabeth's wrist again and pulled her through the crowd until they reached the edge of the patio where it met the field. The field had even more students laying around in groups although they were mostly by the oak trees enjoying the shade but these groups seemed older than those she had seen in the canteen or on the patio.

"How many students are there?" Annabeth asked,

"You've got to remember that this boarding school allows students from the age of 12 up until they are 18 when they leave" she paused for a second and looked at Annabeth "and it is a very popular school"

"But still" Annabeth paused, taking in the amount of students around her "it's like being in a zoo""

Piper laughed and she showed her perfect smile. Annabeth hid her jealousy.

"Come on the gang are just around the corner" Piper started walking off round the corner of the building

"Oh so it's a gang now" Annabeth yelled, "I don't want to get in any kind of trouble" she said as she caught up with Piper,

Piper smirked, "No promises"

"Oh great" Annabeth mumbled

Piper let out a laugh which caused someone to shout out "Pipes?!

As they got round the corner there was a group of teenagers hanging around 2 wooden tables with the sun umbrella's up, some of them were sitting on the benches attached to the table, others were sitting on the table and a couple of guys on the knee high sized brick wall.

"He's not here" Piper whispered, Annabeth looked at her and could see that she was upset, she looked back at the group, there were so many of them, how did she just know that he wasn't here? He could be hiding behind someone for all they knew. She was about to say this to Piper when a girl approached them, "Piper!" She shouted with her arms open. Piper hid her sadness well and managed to greet the girl with a huge smile and returned the hug. The girl, who was wearing an over-sized baseball top which Annabeth recognised as a boys top, pulled apart from Piper and flashed Annabeth a smile. Annabeth noted her as attractive but not in an obvious way like Piper, this girl had frizzy red hair, a freckled pale face with green eyes and gave a sense of intelligence that made Annabeth nervous, like this girl already knew everything about her just by looking at her. Piper introduced them to each other "Annabeth this is Rachel", they exchanged hello's and whilst Annabeth tried to sound cool and collected, Rachel spoke in a very gentle and calm voice which intimidated Annabeth. Rachel whizzed off to the canteen to get them some drinks and Hazel, who is African- American with shoulder-length curly cinnamon brown hair, was the next person to jump off her seat and greet Piper. "So whose the newbie?" She glanced at Annabeth, "Hazel, this is my roommate Annabeth"

"Can she sing?" A lad sitting on the table shouted,

Piper and Hazel both turned and stared at him,

"Does it matter if she can sing Leo?" Hazel asked, frustrated with his stupid question.

"Well she needs to be able to do something, we all bring something to this group so what can she do?

"And what exactly do you bring to this group?" Piper questioned, her arms crossed and leaning slightly to the right

"Other than all the hot ladies" he winked at Annabeth, instantly she wanted to throw up, "I bring the charm" he continued, "the laughs, the...the... Ergh what's the phrase I'm looking for"

"The need for all of us to want to murder a particular person?" Hazel suggested,

"I wonder who that someone would be..." They both smirked at Leo, for a second he looked taken back by their comments, like it hurt his ego but he didn't let his guard down for long, he walked over and put his arm around them both. He smirked, "Ladies, ladies there's enough Leo to go around you don't need to fight over me".

At the same time they both slapped Leo in the stomach, he got a little winded. "Another time then" and he hobbled back to the table. "That's Leo" Piper said as they watched the other guys slap him on the back and mock him. "He's pretty harmless really" Hazel said,

"Yeah he's actually got a crush on a girl the year above us" Piper added,

"Is that guy even capable of feelings?" Annabeth wondered

"You just need to get to know him" Piper said with a sympathetic smile, "Come on let's go sit down".

The girls went and sat down at the table and the group talked for ages, they asked Annabeth a lot of questions, more than she was expecting on her first day. She could see that Piper kept looking around the group, waiting for him to turn up. Annabeth decided to try to help and get her some answers. "So is this everyone in the group?" she asked loudly so that anyone could answer, this caught Pipers attention,

Leo responded, "No we're missing a few guys"

"Yeah where are they? It's not like them to be late" Piper replied,

"Percy and Frank should be here in a couple of hours and Jason's up in his room" Rachel said as she returned, she put a can of coke down in front of Annabeth and another one in front of Piper,

"Thanks for the drink Rachel" Annabeth responded,

"Don't worry about it, now scoot up a little"

Annabeth moved over so Rachel could sit next to her.

"Jason said he needed to unpack and make sure everything was organised for tonight, you know what he's like" Hazel rolled her eyes.

Out of the corner of her eye, Annabeth saw Piper release a small smile, she does know what he's like.

"What's happening tonight?" Annabeth asked curiously,

"Oh come on Pipes, you didn't tell the newbie?" Leo sounded annoyed that this wasn't the first thing Piper told glanced up, she didn't seem fully engaged in the conversation but she didn't want the others to notice."It must have slipped my mind" she gave Annabeth an apologetic smile, which she understood, he was the reason she forgot.

"It's tradition that we play laser tag in the woods on the first night" Rachel explained, "There are 3 teams, those aged 12 and 17 combine to make one team, they usually wear Green."

Hazel continued the teams "The next team has a mixture of 13 and 16 year olds, they always wear Red and the last team.."

"Is the best team" Leo interrupted, "Our team. We have a combination of 14 and 15 year olds and we wear black"

Annabeth let out a small smile, she was good at laser tag but she didn't want them to know that just yet. At the moment they saw her as the newbie, this was her chance to impress them.


	4. Chapter 4 Laser Tag

**Hey guys,**

 **Just a quick note to apologise for the last chapter, I was just so excited for this chapter and wanted to start working on it right away. There are probably some mistakes but I couldn't wait for all you to read it!**

 **Let me me know what you think and any idea you may have that you want me to include!**

 **Enjoy.**

They all met on the field outside the woods around 7PM and the sun was starting to set creating a beautiful pinky/yellow sky which showed the shadows of the trees and branches from the woods onto the field. Everyone was already changed into their laser tag uniform as it had been delivered to each room after dinner, they all wore an army type jumpsuit with a black vest over the top and coloured shoulder pads so you could identify members of different teams. The target areas were on the stomach and the back, just above these spaces were a digital device showing the amount of lives. There was a clear separation between the teams, the blacks, greens and reds all stood away from one another. Some of the older students were helping the youngest ones put on their vest and showing them how the gun worked. Piper had shown Annabeth how to use the gun on the way over, they were slightly different to the ones she was used to but she acted dumb and pretended she had never played before.

They walked over to their team and exchanged quick hello's before Mr Chiron stood in the centre and cleared his throat very loudly, "To those of you who are new, this is an old tradition that we like to play. As you can see we have 3 teams, each team has a different base within the woods which you will go to in a moment. Each team has an object they have to protect which your leaders will show once you reach the base. The way to claim victory is by containing all 3 objects" he scanned the students around him "The only rule is that once you have lost your 3 lives you must return here so you can check out. This way we can determine how many are still playing." He paused, "Remember that this game will have surprises along the way" he produced a cunning smile. "Leaders, lead your team to your base and wait for the cannon". Annabeth scanned her team, she saw Rachel with Leo and Hazel, where were the 3 boys who were supposed to be joining them? And who was their leader? Hazel stepped forward, "Come on blacks follow me" she started jogging to the left and into the woods, well that's one question answered Annabeh thought, the team swiftly followed with Annabeth and Piper running alongside one another. Annabeth didn't get a chance to see what direction the other teams went, she was too busy focusing on keeping up with her team. As they ran, her gun was swaying in her arms, no one spoke, you could only hear the footsteps being slammed onto the mud and the heavy breathes. After roughly 2 miles of running, Annabeth could confirm they were deep into the woods. They reached some stone steps which forced them to slow down, as Annabeth glanced up she saw that they were at the side entrance of a base shelter, the windows had completely gone and the whole place looked abandoned, the shelter was hidden with trees and bushes so unless you knew its location it was hard to find.

Everyone crammed into the base and sat down to regain some energy. Hazel got out a rounded object from her bag, it glowed a bright blue. "This is our item that we have to protect" she knelt down onto one knee so that everyone could see and pulled out a brick from the bottom of the wall, the brick was missing a section in the middle and she slotted the object into it and put it back in the wall. Annabeth stared at the wall trying to figure out which one she had just removed, it wasn't noticeable that there was a loose brick. "And this is where it will be kept" everyone nodded in agreement and Hazel continued speaking, she was announcing her plan, "Most of you will stay in the base whilst the rest make a perimeter around it."

Annabeth couldn't help herself, "Are you not sending people out to the other bases to try and capture their object?" Annabeth questioned,

Hazel's plan seemed solid but it was all defence and no offence. Hazel sat back, leaning against the white crumbled wall and looked at her curiously,"Was that you volunteering?" She raised an eyebrow,

"Err no but if that's what you want me to do then I'll do it"

Annabeth could see Hazel's brain hatching a plan, Annabeth already had a plan in mind but she didn't want to overstep, she wasn't the leader, Hazel was, and she already felt like she was on thin ice for questioning Hazel's original plan. After thinking it over Hazel finally spoke "Fine lets do it, I'll assemble a small group"

Hazel scanned the room, she pointed at a few people that Annabeth didn't recognise, Leo, a boy that was sat next to him and a well built girl was also pointed at, "What you have to point at me for?" She moaned,

"Oh get over it Clarisse, I thought you'd appreciate going out and shooting some first years" Clarisse grunted and then mumbled but Annabeth couldn't quite work out what was said, "Right I want you to pair up and don't leave each other's sides" Hazel said quite sternly

"I've got Annabeth" shouted Leo, Hazel smacked him round the head "Ow" he exclaimed, he went and sat next to Annabeth, Clarisse and the boy who was sat next to Leo paired up "Have fun Chris" Leo sniggered, this time Annabeth hit him round the head.

"What is with all the head hitting?" Leo asked whilst rubbing the back of his head,

Before anyone could reply the canon went off and Hazel was ushering them to get out, Clarisse and Chris went off towards the left whilst Annabeth and Leo turned right. The other pairs stuck together as a bigger group and went straight, idiots, she thought, they were going to attract more attention as a big group.

Annabeth and Leo kept running for a bit longer until they arrived at a clearing, "You know where the other bases are right Leo?"

"Sure, sure, we've errr just got to go a bit further ahead, take a left, venture on a bit further, take a right-"

"-You have no idea do you?"

"Nope"

*snap*

"What the-"

"Shh Leo"

It was silent, Annabeth scanned the forest, it was getting darker now and she couldn't see as clearly as she could earlier. Annabeth thought she saw a shadow against one of the trees, she squinted and could make an outline of a gun. She turned and grabbed Leo and they jumped over a long log and put their backs up against it. Annabeth turned her head so that her eyes were just over the top of the log, she was about to suggest they moved when all of a sudden dozen of students emerged from the forest and all of them had green shoulders. She put her head back down and looked at Leo, "Bollocks, we're outnumbered "

"It's ok, we've got this" he said in a calming tone, "you take that end of the log and I'll take this side"

They slowly crawled to either end of the log and gave each the nod, they turned onto their knees and started firing at those approaching. They got some good hits and got a lot of players out, Annabeth didn't want to brag and Leo would never admit to the truth but she got most of the players out, she had a good aim and a rapid fire. The older students grabbed their younger buddies who also got shot out and took them back to school. "Have you done this before?" Leo questioned, impressed with Annabeth's shooting, "Now is not the time to have this discussion". The green's were clever and started to go round the edge to surround them, Annabeth ran over to a tree opposite the log so that she could get better positioning but Leo left it to late and got fired at from all directions. He lost all his lives instantly. He met her eye and gave a quick wink but instantly looked back at the opponents, he didn't want to give her positioning away. Annabeth stood still unsure of what to do when Leo started making loads of noise and swearing and complaining about how he didn't even want to play, Annabeth understood what he was doing, creating a distraction for her. Without looking back she ran, as fast and as far away as she could.

She felt like she had been running for ages so she slowed down and started to walk, she looked up to he sky where night was starting to take over. She climbed over a fallen tree when she heard shouting, Annabeth's head was telling her to run in the other direction, in fact any direction other than towards the noise but her gut was telling her to go towards the sounds. Yet again, Annabeth Chase listened to her gut and followed the noise.

She could see the outlines of people, possibly 3 guys were surrounding this one person, she hid behind a tree but peered her head round so that she could see what was happening. She couldn't work out their colours, were any of them on her team? She decided to circle round and get a closer look, she slowly made her way to the tree closest to the action but still provided her with cover and hid by it. She didn't get a chance to see if the group were a part of hers because in one smooth move they all started shooting, moving and shouting. The loner tucked and rolled over to the guy opposite and shot him so all his lives were gone and then decided to use him as a shield. A bit of moonlight shone onto the single guy's shoulder pads and Annabeth could see the colour blue, blue isn't a team she thought, she watched on, unsure of what to do. One of the guy's gun's stopped working which gave his opponent the advantage, whilst his team mate was shooting from the right hand side of the guy in blue, the guy in blue pushed his human shield towards the incoming shots and started charging at the one whose gun wasn't working. He rugby tackled him onto the floor and got his gun out and fired 3 quick shots into his vest and the guy was out of the game. The last guy was now hovering over the guy in blue who had lifted his hands in the air to signal surrender, the guy mumbled something about how he was glad he got to do the honours and was about to pull the trigger when Annabeth impulsively shot him and hid back behind the tree. "Shit" she muttered under her breath, why did she just do that? He could have been on her team.

"No fair" he wailed as he just lost his last life, the guys got up from the floor and headed back to the school.

The guy in blue looked stumped, he couldn't figure out where the shot had come from. Annabeth popped her head round the tree, he was stood up now and was facing the opposite way, she could sneak up on him and take him out. "I had it covered" he shouted, "I had a plan". Oh yeah, she was definitely taking this guy out. She quietly crept out of her hiding place and silently approached him, he was still looking the opposite way. She was less than 2 steps away now and she could see more of his features, well his behind features anyway, he had an athletic build and raven black hair and she was right, he did have blue shoulder pads. She held her gun at his lower back on his vest and shot him. He jumped when his vest made a noise letting him know he had lost a life, he was clearly scared and not as alert as he seemed, he turned around to face her and Annabeth felt her stomach flip. This guy had amazing sea green eyes.

"You shot me?" He said, full of shock

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"Well no but I'm going to have to get rid of all your lives now"

"Is that how you treat a lady?" She raised one eyebrow

He smirked, "No but this is" he stepped forward and leaned in for a kiss and for a moment Annabeth nearly believed him and almost leaned in aswell but she saw his arms reaching for her gun and she stepped back.

"I don't think so Mr" so she shot him, again, this time in the stomach. He had one life remaining now whilst she still had all 3.

"Oh come on" he walked away with raised arms but then let them fall back down to his side, Annabeth still had her gun focused on him.

"Why do you have blue shoulder pads?" She questioned

He turned around to face her "Because I'm on my own team"

"Why do you get your own team?"

He spoke slowly "Because I'm the best"

"Clearly not if you were saved and then shot, twice I might add, by a newbie"

"That's all part of the plan" he gave Annabeth a cheeky smile and before she could react he dived to the side, aimed his gun and shot Annabeth. She stood there, she hadn't moved when he shot her, she wanted to move but she couldn't, her feet were glued to the spot and her eyes were stuck on him. He looked up at her and was puzzled "Why haven't you moved?" he stood up,

"I'm not sure" she responded

"You better not be pulling any mind games on me missy"

She cleared her head, she knew how to get under this guys skin and she was going to do it "I just thought you were only good with still targets, moving targets would be too hard for you"

"Oh really?" he said and pointed his gun at her, she looked straight in to his sea green eyes, this time knowingly refusing to move and he shot her again. They both had one life remaining now. She saw through his plan, they had to chose who would walk away whilst the other one returned to school. They were going to battle it out and she was ready to fight.

He walked towards her and she could feel her hands getting clammy, her mind was racing, her heart was beating faster but she put that down to adrenaline, not because of how handsome he was. He stopped just in front of her, they were so close that they were almost nose to nose, she felt that tugging in her gut, the one she felt when she was deciding what school to attend. She wasn't going to let him get to her, she was not going to lose because of some boy but then he put his mouth by her ear and suddenly she was aware of everything, the direction the wind was blowing, the location of the moon, the type of animal noises. She wanted nothing more than for him to bury his head in her neck and slowly kiss it but instead he whispered in her ear, "Now we're even" and he ran off behind her. The lust she had for him stopped her from chasing after him, she continued looking blankly ahead, it was only the sound of Clarisse and Chris calling out to her that brought her back to reality.


	5. Chapter 5 Blue

Annabeth sat on the table part of the wooden bench with her legs bouncing up and down on the seat whilst she waits, looking for him in all directions. Surely he would be out soon? She was sat at the back of the school on the field watching all those who were out of the game hand their equipment back in to Mr Chiron at the desk. She could have sworn she had seen him numerous times handing his back in but it never was.

Shortly after Clarisse and Chris had found her, she got shot out. They got caught in an ambush by the Greens that she was certain was intended for the Reds, fortunately Chris noticed in time to pull Clarisse back but it was too late for Annabeth, she was completely oblivious and walked right into it. She blamed him. The guy in blue. She was still thinking about him and she didn't want to. That's why she was waiting, she was angry with him, he had ruined her focus.

Leo went and sat next to her, she continued to stare ahead, keeping an eye on the forest

"I sacrificed myself and that's how you honour me? You get ambushed!"

"You didn't sacrifice yourself, you were too slow"

"That's not what people are saying, they're calling me a hero, a knight in shining armour" he beamed proudly, Annabeth tried to ignore the obnoxious comments but the mention of armour jolted her mind

"Talking of armour, why was there a guy with blue shoulder pads? I thought there were only 3 teams" she asked skeptically,

"Chiron said there would be surprises" He chuckled and then turned his head to face her because the penny had just dropped, "Wait you saw the guy in blue?" She nodded her head "I thought you got out because you were ambushed?"

"I saw him before the ambush, right after I left you actually"

"Wow, you must be good"

"Why?"

"You didn't die at the hands of blue, everyone who comes across him gets shot out"

Annabeth was about to tell Leo that she did get shot by him, twice, but then it dawned on her that he didn't shoot her the 3rd time, he could have, probably should have but he let her go. And from what Leo was saying, he's not the type of guy to just let people go so she kept her mouth shut and produced a smirk instead.

"So why is he in blue?"

He started explaining how there are 3 individuals who play as a secret group, they have different colours, blue, yellow and white. This group play a more advanced version, they too have to gain the objects, however it's more of a free for all for them, they can shoot anyone and they have to be the sole survivor to win where as the 3 teams can win as soon as they have all 3 objects.

"Last year was blues first time in the secret group and he won" Leo added,

"His first time and he won" Annabeth repeated gobsmacked

"Yeah, that guy made history"

"Do you know him? Well I mean, like are you friends?"

Leo lifted one eyebrow up and smiled mischievously, "Best friends"

Annabeth was about to ask who blue really was when she saw the rest of the black team emerge from the forest with Hazel marching over to her and Leo.

Leo stood up "Woah Hazel what happened?"

"Blue" she answered coldly, refusing to meet his eye

"Of course"

She slammed her gun down on the desk opposite so it could be checked back in. The rest of the team did the same, she moaned as she and Leo sat down. "I hate him when we play this game, I hate the whole secret group"

Piper sat next to Annabeth. "Did you see him?" She muttered under her breath,

"Who? Blue?" Annabeth whispered back

She shook her head, "Not blue, the guy in yellow?"

"No I haven't seen him"

Piper anxiously looked away, who is the guy in yellow? Who is blue? WHO IS THE SECRET GROUP? Were the questions on Annabeth's mind, she stopped herself from shouting them at the top of her lungs.

"He can't help it Hazel" Rachel replied as she stood in front of the group,

Hazel rolled her eyes "Of course you'd defend him". Rachel let out a light hearted laugh and pushed her hair behind her ears. "How long do we wait?" Annabeth asked, eager to change subject because she did not want to know the answer as to why Rachel would defend Blue. "Until there's a winner" Piper told her, "Last year we stayed up until 3 in the morning"

"What's the time now?" Leo asked,

Hazel looked at her watch, "12:30"

Leo looked at Annabeth and laughed, "Couple more hours to go"

Apparently someone had heard their conversation because their timing could not have been better, Mr Chiron gave the order for the horn. "The game is over" he shouted, everyone rushed to gather in the middle of the field where they had all stood before the game. Eyes were all over the place wondering who had won and what direction they would appear. Annabeth noticed 2 figures standing on the edge of the woods, barely visible and she wondered why they were hiding over there rather than joining in with the crowd when a ripple of gasps were made and then followed by loud cheers and clapping. Annabeth turned to see someone walking out of the woods, holding a small pouch in the air with 3 different colours lighting it up; Blue, Yellow and White. She pushed her way through the front of the crowd to see if her suspicions were right, if it was him.

As always, she was correct. It was him. The guy in blue had won. As he walked over she had that gut feeling again, her stomach was rolling over again and again. All the anger she channeled towards him just melted away, instead she was worrying about what to say to him. She could see his face more clearly now, those loving deep sea green eyes were looking straight at her and he smiled, a nice flirtatious smile. He was mobbed by the crowd but kept his eyes on Annabeth, he was slapped on the back and exchanged hand shakes until he reached her, she pushed her hip to the side and crossed her arms "This does not make us even",

"I'm sure I'll find a way to make it up to you" he smiled.

Before Annabeth could say anything else Leo jumped on his back "Congrats man!"

He started laughing and dropped Leo and gave him a man hug, "Thanks Leo"

Piper congratulated him with a hug and Annabeth could have sworn she had whispered something to him but she couldn't hear what because when he looked up from that hug, sadness filled his eyes. Piper stood next to Annabeth whilst Hazel, Clarisse and Chris spoke to him, Piper lowered her voice "I strongly suggest we get out of here" Annabeth ignored her because she wanted to stay a little longer, she was enjoying the atmosphere and most importantly the company of him. That all changed when Rachel ran up to him and wrapped her legs around his waist, he immersed his arms around her and then she planted her lips onto his. Annabeth felt sharp pains in her chest, she stood there, unable to move, she couldn't take her eyes off of them. She understood why Rachel was defending him now, she was his girlfriend.

They pulled away from one another when Mr Chiron made an awkward fake cough, Rachel jumped off grabbed his hand and stood next to him all whilst he stared at Annabeth, the sadness was still there in his eyes. She felt sick. "A huge congratulations to this young man who has won the last 2 years, I am extremely proud of you Percy Jackson". Percy smiled as he pulled his hand away from Rachel to shake it with Mr Chiron, he was then lifted into the air by a group of male students who started chanting "Percy, Percy, Percy". Piper grabbed Annabeth's hand and they started walking back to their room. Leo chased after them and made them stop "Aren't you going to celebrate?" he asked pleadingly,

Annabeth turned back to the crowd where she could see Percy still being treated like a king and she could sense him looking for her within the mob. Then she looked to the edge of the crowd where Rachel stood looking so happy for her boyfriend and Hazel was now talking to the guy in White, whom she suspected was Frank. The guy in yellow who she had figured out to be Jason, was no where to be seen which is why she believed Piper wanted to leave.

"Sorry Leo, not tonight" Annabeth answered, Piper flashed Leo a smile before putting her arm around Annabeth's shoulder and they carried on walking.

Neither of them were in the party mood.


	6. Chapter 6 The Next Day

Annabeth and Piper collapsed in their beds, each releasing a heavy sigh.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Annabeth asked whilst still looking directly above her,

"No." Piper replied sharply, also staring at the ceiling "Do you?"

"Nothing to talk about"

Piper smiled, "I'm here when you're ready"

Annabeth was glad Piper didn't push or question her when she said there was nothing to talk about. "Piper?"

"Yeah?"

"I appreciate what you did for me tonight"

"That's what friends do"

Annabeth smiled and fell asleep in her army clothes to the sound of all of their friends outside enjoying the celebration.

 _ **'WAKE UP ITS A BEAUTIFUL MORNING'**_ was the lyrics Annabeth woke up to in the morning- Piper's alarm. Piper argued that it woke her up better and made her feel positive about the day ahead-it made Annabeth's mood worse. How could it possibly be a good morning after what happened yesterday? Reluctantly she slipped on some light blue denim shorts with a plain white tee and pulled her blonde hair into a high bun and walked downstairs for breakfast with Piper- who was sporting the same style. They walked into the canteen, each grabbing a freshly squeezed orange juice and a bowl of cereal and walked outside to sit on one of the benches with the sun shining on it. They were enjoying their breakfast in peace when Leo approached them with his breakfast alongside Hazel and the guy Annabeth believed to be Frank.

"You look like shit" Piper said as Leo went to sit down next to her, Hazel and the other guy sat next to Annabeth.

"It was a late one last night Pipes, you would have loved it" Leo expressed,

"There will be plenty more parties Leo" Piper replied casually bumping him

"Where is the champ anyway?" Annabeth asked before putting a spoonful of Cheerios into her mouth,

"Getting his beauty sleep" Hazel remarked

"And Jason?" Piper questioned

"He's out like a light" said the boy who had a large but stocky frame. This guy styled a babyish face with brown eyes and black short hair. Annabeth was studying his features carefully and she was suddenly aware of this and looked away but Piper had seen her and decided to formally introduce them. "Oh gods, you two haven't been introduced! Annabeth this is Frank, Jason's roommate and a good friend, Frank this is Annabeth, newest member of the gang and my roommate". Annabeth glanced over and gave him a small shy wave and a smile, he did more of a casual salute.

Once they had all finished their breakfast and had a bit more of a chat, they made their way back to their rooms to get ready for the day ahead of them.

"Are you going to talk to him today?" Piper called out from looking in the wardrobe,

Annabeth held a book in her hand and was weighing out her options as to whether it would fit in her bag or not.

"I haven't given it much thought" she replied. She was lying. She couldn't think about anything else. Instead she opted to go the library and stick her head in books all day. "Are you going to talk to Jason?"

Piper popped her head round the oak wardrobe door and glared at Annabeth, Annabeth couldn't help but laugh. Piper grabbed a blue basic playsuit and chucked it on the bed, "You know lessons don't start until Thursday... It's only Tuesday... Where are you going with those books?"

"I like to be prepared so I'm going to do some light reading"

"That's light reading?"

Annabeth nodded and walked towards the door with her bag slung over a shoulder, "See you later" and with that, she left.

Annabeth found her way to the library with only one small mishap, she remembered to go down the stairs and take a couple of rights but she couldn't remember which right was the correct right so she took the first door which turns out is the swimming pool and she thought she saw Percy get out of the pool so immediately ran into another room which turned out to be the library. She walked past the librarian, an elderly woman with a round wrinkled face and light grey hair and gave a polite smile, who in return gave her the look of death. There were a few people scattered around, sitting down in groups or sitting down the aisles trying to find books. Annabeth went to the back of the library and found a round table with a few chairs and set her stuff down. She got her first book out; _The History of the Greeks._ She was reading about the legends- her favourite legend was Perseus vs Medusa. He overcomes all obstacles to defend his family. He proves himself as honourable and valiant, calm and clever and he values family above all else. Annabeth admired his will to fight for what he wants to protect.

Annabeth was so deep in reading about Perseus that she didn't realise someone had sat opposite her until she felt a presence a few pages later. Her eyes looked across and could see the same page being read by someone else, her eyes then looked at the hands and carried on scanning upwards until she started to recognise features, the pale pink lips, the slightly pointed nose with a few freckles. Then she saw the eyes and stopped dead in her tracks, she recognised those sea green eyes, she could identify them within seconds. It was Percy.

"Hi" he whispered,

She politely smiled back at him and returned to her book, still being confused about yesterday she wasn't ready to talk to him

"I think I was named after him you know" he nodded at the book where there was a drawing of Perseus,

She looked back at him and whispered "I think he's my favourite hero" she couldn't help herself, he had started a conversation about a topic that she loved and if she loves to talk about something it's hard to stop her from talking about it.

"Why?"

There were so many reasons why she liked this story but she couldn't figure out why it was her favourite, "I suppose it's his loyalty" she twists the truth; it's why she likes the story not why it's her favourite, "I admire how he fights for his family, majority of the other Greek heroes fight for themselves or to impress the gods or for love, but he does it to protect his mum"

"Isn't he trying to prove himself to Zeus-his father and doesn't he fall in love with Andromeda?"

Annabeth paused, a little taken back that Percy actually knew the story and wasn't pretending to try and make conversation, he sat back in his chair enjoying the fact that Annabeth hadn't responded,

"That's..." She paused "Ergh" she was unresponsive so she returned to the book,

Percy smiled. He leant forward and locked his hands together twiddling his thumbs and looked around him like he was checking no one could hear them, his smile had faded and was replaced with a concerned look "So.. Err... Why didn't you celebrate last night?"

Annabeth lifted her head up ever so slightly that she could look at him, he looked worried and Annabeth couldn't help but smile but she didn't let him see it , "Just didn't feel like it" she said as she leant back in her chair, trying to play it cool.

He didn't look convinced with the answer, the worry hadn't disappeared from his face,

"Oh really?"

"Yeah and Piper wanted to go back"

"Ok good, I didn't want it to be because of-"

"Because of you? Don't go thinking all high and mighty of yourself Mr Jackson" Annabeth smirked, she wasn't going to tell him the truth, not yet anyway.

Percy let out a light laugh, Annabeth knew that he still believed it was because of him so she decided to clear the air

"Nothing happened between us Percy"

He looked wounded by that but Annabeth couldn't figure out why, he had a girlfriend. Oh god he's got a girlfriend, she needed to leave.

"I've got to go" she pushed the chair back and started grabbing her stuff, he stood up and she stopped and they looked into each other's eyes,

"I still don't know your name"

"Annabeth, Annabeth Chase"

"See you tonight Annabeth"

"Why what's happening tonight?"

Percy smirked "You'll have to wait and see"


	7. Chapter 7 Emotions Run High

On her way out of the library Annabeth bumped into Rachel who was debating about whether to go inside or not

"Have you seen Percy?" She asked, "we're supposed to be grabbing lunch together" she said with a smile on her face, she was wearing a navy dress with white dots all over it.

Annabeth a little confused and spaced out replied "err yeah he's at the back I think"

"Oh... really? Err great thanks"

Annabeth smiled politely before leaving and heading back to her room.

When Annabeth walked in she did not expect to see Piper sitting at the end of the bed with her pj's still on.

"Err are you ok Pipes?"

"I couldn't do it"

"What? Get changed?" Annabeth smirked as she dumped her stuff on her bed and went and sat next to Piper, only slightly nudging her as she sat down.

Piper smiled, "No...well yeahhhh... but you seem alright, you fucked off to the library." Annabeth raised an eyebrow at her, trying to decipher how Piper was feeling when she turned sideways to look at Annabeth "What if he was with them today? What would I have said? I need you with me when I first see him, I'm not strong enough to do it by myself"

Annabeth released a small sigh of relief and grabbed Piper and forced a hug- it felt like the right thing to do. "It's ok Pipes, we can do this together yeah?" She felt Piper nod against her shoulder.

"So the first step is to put on the playsuit because we are going down for lunch and you're gonna do it looking hot"

Piper smiled and reluctantly grabbed the hanger from Annabeth's hand and opened her wardrobe door so she could change behind it.

"So err what's happening tonight?" Annabeth queried,

"Tonight?" Piper called out

"Yeah" Annabeth started fiddling with her feet, twisting them side to side "Percy said something about tonight?"

Piper slammed the wardrobe door shut, now changed into the playsuit which showed off her glowing olive skin and complimented her caramel hair "Percy?"

Annabeth nodded

"When did you see Percy?"

"In the library"

Piper suppressed a laugh, "The library? But Percy hates..." Piper stopped mid sentence before releasing a series of swear words under her breath "Fucking wanker, bloody arsehole"

"What does Percy hate?"

Piper looked at Annabeth, Annabeth knew she was about to tell her but for some reason she dismissed the idea "err nothing, it's not important"

Annabeth stared at Piper knowing that it wasn't nothing but she decided to drop the topic,

"So tonight?"

"I completely forgot about tonight"

Annabeth continued to look at her for an answer,

"On the second night, as a group we do something- this year the boys were planning it so god knows what will happen. Knowing that lot they will throw a party and invite the whole school"

"Oh wow that sounds fun"

"Promise we'll stick together all night?"

"Have you seen yourself? Boys are going to be all over you"

"I don't want boys Annabeth... I want Jason" she looked at Annabeth with sad puppy eyes,

"I promise" she paused "we'll stick together all night"

That cheered Piper up almost immediately "great lets go get lunch"

They went downstairs and saw Leo in the queue to get something to eat, Annabeth looked over at Piper who liked like she was producing an evil plan, Piper spoke quietly "Want to find out what they've got planned tonight?"

Annabeth nodded

"Then follow my lead"

Piper took the left side of Leo whilst Annabeh stood on the right side, "Hello ladies, damn Piper you're looking hot" he looked her up and down,

"Oh thanks Leo" she said with a gleaming smile and a sparkle in her eye, she rested her arms on his shoulders and was looking at his cheeks,

"You know Leo-"

"I'm not telling you"

"You didn't let me finish"

"Don't have to, I know when you're after something McLean"

Annabeth knew it was her turn to take over, she rested her left hand on his spare shoulder and with her right hand ran her fingers over his right peck,

"How are we supposed to dress appropriately if we don't know what we're doing?" Annabeth asked, playfully looking into his eyes,

Leo gulped, clearly ensure with what to do with the attention

"Exactly Leo, what if we turn up in sweatpants?" Piper teased him,

"You wouldn't want all the girls to turn up in sweatpants now would you?" Annabeth queried, still running her fingers over his peck,

He gripped tighter onto his tray, "Ok ok ok" he lowered his voice so only they could hear him "let's just say it involves the pool and Hawaii ok?"

"Thanks Leo" Annabeth winked whilst Piper gave him a kiss on the cheek and then both girls took they trays and went to find a bench outside

After lunch the girls chilled out in the sun, laughing and singing before returning to their rooms to get ready for the night ahead, they managed to secretly tell the others what the boys were planning on their walk to their rooms.

"Of course they would get us in our bikini's" Hazel remarked,

"Who said anything about bikini's?" Rachel replied,

"If you're planning to go in the pool you'll need a bikini"

"You could just wear a top and shorts? Like they do in the American high school movies"

"Yeah I suppose, I'd wear a bikini underneath just in case"

Annabeth and Piper just laughed at the two of them. Once Annabeth and Piper reached their door they waved goodbye, they could still hear Hazel and Rachel squabbling down the corridor.

"What are you going to wear?" Piper questioned,

"Probably a bikini underneath a vest with some shorts, you?"

"I have no idea" Piper laughed "you have to help me"

The girls looked through their wardrobes and after hours of trying on clothes they finally settled on an outfit each; Piper wore a pale green dress which really complimented her skin tone whilst Annabeth wore a light blue caftan drawing attention to her stormy grey eyes. The girls had just finished applying waterproof mascara when there was a knock at the door, Piper opened it to be shocked at who was standing with his back to the door "Jason?"

A tall blonde boy stood in the doorway and as he turned Annabeth could see why Piper had fallen for him, he had electric blue eyes, tidy, military cropped blond hair which he appeared to be trying to grow out and similarly to Percy, had an athletic build.

"Wow" he slipped out before quickly recovering "Err I mean hey Pipes, are you and your erm roommate ready to go?"

Whilst Piper remained frozen, Annabeth walked over, smiling and held her hand out "Hi Jason, I'm Annabeth"

He shock it firmly "Nice to finally meet you" he looked back at Piper who was still in a state of shock and quickly let go "So are you guys ready or..?

"Sure just let me grab my bag" Annabeth quickly ran and grabbed her small rounded bag which had her phone in, she quickly stuffed Pipers in there aswell before heading back over and grabbing the room key. "Let's go" she said enthusiastically, she practically pushed Piper out of the door which jolted her back to life and Piper produced a slight smile as she stood in the corridor with Jason waiting for Annabeth to lock the door. It was an awkward walk, the corridor wasn't wide enough for 3 people to walk side by side so Annabeth discreetly dropped back to allow room for the 2 of them which she figured would encourage them to talk but despite her efforts, it didn't help the conversation flow.

They finally arrived at the bottom of the stairs where Jason made them put blindfolds on, Annabeth was tempted to tell him that they already knew what was happening but she decided to let it go so reluctantly they put the blindfolds on. Annabeth felt Piper squeeze her hand so she raised her blindfold up ever so slightly so she could see the reason behind it, she was holding his hand. He was leading the way to the pool and was holding her hand. Annabeth quickly pulled the blindfold back down and lightly squeezed Pipers hand back. When they arrived Annabeth heard the door unlock and the temperature suddenly changed, oh god she would be sweating in a matter of seconds. Piper had let go off her hand so Annabeth stood still until a pair of hands wrapped around her arms and made her shuffle to the left.

A voice she recognised as Percy's then shouted "Welcome",

Next Jason spoke "We have brought you here for a night you won't want to forget"

Frank was the next one "You are here for the night of your lives"

"So take off your blindfolds and PARTYYYYYYYY" Leo, that was defiantly Leo.

Annabeth slipped her blindfold and was amazed at what the boys had managed to pull off, they had a table set up at the back filled with exotic drinks and foods, they had inflatable palm trees scattered around the pool. There was a range of long straw hanging above the pool and had been stuck on the walls. The boys had even found some flowers and beach balls and put them everywhere. The whole place was filled with various bright, bold colours, imagine a Hawaiian themed pool party, in fact Google a Hawaiian themed pool party and it would be like that but yet so much better. Everyone was silent whilst they took in what the boys had done to the place, the girls were all stood in a line so they could see everything, they boys stood opposite grinning from ear to ear, clearly proud of their work. As Annabethh scanned the surroundings again she caught Percy's eye, he smiled at her, even bigger than he already was and she returned the smile. They were interrupted from their googly eyes when Rachel ran up to him and wrapped her hand around his cheek forcing him to look at her and she kissed him, Annabeth looked at the floor before seeing Piper and Jason having the exact same moment that get and Percy had just shared. Jason took a deep breathe and walked over to Piper, they talked for a few moments before walking over to the table to get a drink. Annabeth leaned against the wall when Leo approached her, "What do you think?" He asked,

"I can't believe it, it's fantastic"

Leo beamed proudly, "Thanks, it was my idea"

"And it's a great one"

"Percy didn't seem to think so" he said sulking,

She raised her eyebrows in shock, why would he be against this? "Whys that?" She queried

"He wanted to do a Greek theme, celebrate the gods, goddesses and heroes"

Annabeth felt a lump in her throat, he wanted to a Greek theme? Did it have anything to do with her? She felt her heart beating faster, like it was trying to escape to Percy.

"He changed his mind in the end though it did take a lot of persuasion"

Annabeth slowly stopped listening to Leo and instead focused on Percy, she watched him talking to his friends, how he threw his head back when he found something really funny, the way he slowly took a sip from his drink, how his smile started slow but grew into a masterpiece. She couldn't help but smile at him. "Sorry Leo I need to get a drink, do you want one?"

"Nah I'm good"

She pushed off the wall and made her way to the table, noticing a figure on the other side of the pool also making their way to the table. She released a small smile to herself. She knew it was him. They reached the table at the same time, "What do you want?" He asked her as they scanned the table,

"What have you got?"

"Alcoholic or non?"

"How did you even manage to get alcoholic?" She asked,

He smirked "When you've been here long enough you get contacts"

"You got Rum and Coke?"

"What? No! That's not exotic or Hawaiian" he huffed, "I'm gonna give you a Piña Colada"

"That was actually what I was going to ask for next" she smiled at him,

"Here, you better drink up quickly and get another one before the others arrive"

"Others?" She questioned

"You think we threw this party just for you? Don't go thinking all high and mighty of yourself Miss Chase" he laughed, Annabeth nearly spat her drink out from laughing.

"If it was for me it would have been Ancient Greek themed" she said before taking another sip,

Percy was about to respond when the room was filled with students and Annabeth and Percy got separated. Annabeth made her way through the crowds towards Hazel and Rachel who were standing in the corner, "Hey" Annabeth shouted, apparently the older lads had a brought a speaker with them and started playing music. "Won't we get in trouble for this?"

Rachel sipped her drink, her eyes fixated on something, Hazel was also staring ahead. Annabeh turned to see what they were looking at, a group of girls in bikinis had surrounded Percy and Frank. The boys looked like they were just making friendly conversation, Annabeth had complete faith in them, she trusted Percy but maybe she trusted him because he wasn't hers to worry about. She didn't need to be worried about him, it wasn't like they were in a relationship, he was with Rachel. She felt a blow to the gut and a little bit of hope drain from her when she remembered that, she shook it off. She looked back at Rachel and Hazel and could see the worry and anger in their eyes, did Rachel look at her like that when she spoke to Percy?

"Come on it's ok, they wouldn't do anything"

"Me and frank aren't...we're not..." Hazel stumbled on her words, her eyes still set on Frank

"Keep telling yourself that" Annabeth remarked,

She got no response, she rolled her eyes and blocked their view of the boys, "Listen you two can stand here moping all night or come with me, get another drink and have some fun"

Hazel and Rachel looked at each other, they rolled their eyes, "let's go".

A few hours after and many Piña Coladas later, Annabeth decided to talk a walk. She cut through a group of boys with one of them pretending that he was about to push her in the pool, she shot him look that screamed 'try me'. Once she got out of the room she started walking towards the student area when someone called after her

"Annabeth? Hey Annabeth wait up" she stopped, the corridor was starting to sway a little and a figure with raven black hair approached her

"woah I've got you", she slumped into his muscular arms, she stayed there for what seemed like hours but in reality it was a matter of seconds,

"You smell nice" she said as she managed to stand up straight by herself.

"Thanks, I had a shower and put on some deodorant"

She laughed, throwing her head back and then bringing it forward so her hair sat perfectly behind her shoulders. "You're funny too"

"One of my many talents" he smirked,

She didn't know why but she got all warm and gooey when he smirked. She looked at him with longing eyes,

"What are you thinking?" He asked,

"Oh nothing" she looked at the ground and bit her lip, she needed to gain some self control before she did something she would regret.

He placed his fingers under her chin and titled her head up so that she could his sea green eyes, God she loved his eyes, he had puckered his lips and she was still biting hers.

She could feel the sexual tension between them but at the same time it was so much more than just a physical need for each other. She could feel herself slowly leaning in towards him but she couldn't stop herself, he wasn't stopping it either, instead he was staring at her lips. They were about to kiss when they heard someone opening the pool door, Percy grabbed her hand and dragged her to the student area where they hid behind the long red sofa.

Two people then entered a few minutes later, they sat on the red sofa, the guy started kissing the girl on the neck slowly and softly but Percy and Annabeth could hear it happening. They looked at each other and had to hold in their laughter,

"Jason I don't know about this, I should go and find Annabeth" Annabeth was in shock, the people sitting in front of her were Piper and Jason. She strongly resisted popping her head up and scaring the shit out of them both.

"She can wait a few minutes"

"No we should go check she's ok, let's check outside"

They got up and Annabeth and Percy heard the door click but waited a few moments to be sure the coast was clear. Percy then grabbed her hand "come on I think we should get you to bed", he opened the door,looked both ways to make sure the it was clear and pulled Annabeth, they very quickly ran past the entrance to the pool and up the twirly wooden stairs. When they reached her room, she was fumbling around in her bag trying to find the key, when she found it she then struggled to put it in the keyhole, Percy laced his hand on top of hers and helped her put it in. The door swung open. She walked over to her bed, chucked her bag on the floor,

"Do I have to go to bed?" She sulked like a 4 year old,

"I think it would be a good idea" he said before sitting next to her "before you get us into trouble" he winked, she flirtatiously smiled back.

"Ok but will you stay a while"

"I can't.. I've got to get back to-"

-Rachel?" She sighed

"The party"

He kissed her on the forehead before getting up he was at the door when he turned around "Goodnight Miss Chase, I hope to see you tomorrow" And with that he shut the door and left.


	8. Chapter 8 Confessions

**WARNING**

 **PART OF THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A SENSITIVE TOPIC, THEREFORE TOWARDS THE END OF THIS CHAPTER IT MAY BE DISTRESSING FOR SOME READERS**

When Annabeth woke she had a throbbing headache, she rolled over to see a bottle of water on her bedside cabinet. She sat up immediately, un screwed it and took massive gulps. Piper then walked through the door,

"Nice to see that you're alive" she took a seat on Annabeth's bed, she was wearing a long sleeved red and blue checkered shirt with a white vest top underneath and dark blue denim shorts.

"Not so loud" Annabeth moaned before putting her bottle back on the side, "Wait where have you come from? And thanks for the water"

"Oh don't worry about it, you'd do the same for me. I've come back from lunch, it was only me and Leo! Most of the group are still asleep aswell so don't feel too bad"

Annabeth laughed "How did I end up in bed? The last thing I remember is hiding behind the red sofa in the student area..." Annabeth stopped when she realised who she was hiding from; Piper and Jason. Piper must have seen her face though because she gasped and her face went as red as a tomato

"Oh god! You were there when me and Jason...when he was..."

"Sucking your neck like a vampire? Yeah I was there" Annabeth laughed and pointed to her neck making sucky sounds, Piper playfully hit her which caused Annabeth to laugh even harder.

"Wait who else knows? Were you alone?"

Annabeth recalled the hazy memory, she could feel someone warm pressed up against her as they leant against the back of the sofa, she was looking at him but he was looking the other way. Just turn around, turn around she begged and then he did. Percy. Her heart started racing at the thought, he smiled devishly before grabbing her hand, pulling her from their hiding position.

"Percy" she barely managed to say "I was with Percy"

"Ok well he won't tell anyone." She sounded relieved. "Wait, did something happen between you two?" Piper questioned, she lent closer to Annabeth now, showing more interest in the conversation.

"Me and Percy?" Annabeth let out a loud "HA" followed by a defensive "No, defiantly not, I mean he's in a relationship"

"I've seen the way you look at him Annabeth"

Annabeth looked down at her duvet, she wanted to tell Piper, she really did and let out all her feelings rather than keeping it locked up inside but Piper was friends with Rachel, she would think terribly of her. That set her off, the feeling of letting Piper down, and Rachel, oh god, she had betrayed Rachel, tears escaped down her cheeks

"Hey hey, why are you crying? What wrong?"

Oh no, she was going to let it all out now "I can't help it Piper, I don't want to look at him like that but the way I feel when I'm with him is unexplainable, I get butterflies when his name is mentioned, I can physically feel my heartbeat pick up at the thought of him. I hate him for it, I mean we met 2 days ago! Who the hell feels like this after knowing someone for 2 days?!"

She had tears streaming from her face, her mascara running everywhere and she took a moment to wipe them before speaking again whilst Piper listened.

"And to make it worse he's in a relationship, he is off limits, he can't be mine which makes my heart sink and I just can't keep reminding myself of that because I won't survive. If I keep telling myself that he is taken I will break and I can't break, because I don't know if I can be put back together"

Piper sat there quietly before pulling her sleeve down to cover her hand and lifting it up to Annabeth's cheek to wipe the tears away,

"He looks at you the same way" Piper spoke softly,

"So why is he still with Rachel?" She snapped,

"He's a boy, boys get confused easily and it takes them a lot longer to figure out their feelings"

"You must hate me because Rachel's your friend" Annabeth said as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand

"You can't control your feelings but it's how you act on them that's important." Piper whispered the next part "And for the record, I prefer you and Percy together than those two"

Annabeth smiled "You're just saying that"

"I'm telling the truth, she is my friend but she treats my best friend like crap. Percy and I have been best friends since we were 12 years old and now that he's with her he's not allowed to have any girl friends other than in our group. I mean did you see the way she was at the party?" She pulled a face of disgust "He was under surveillance the whole time, he's trapped in that relationship."

Piper sighed, stood up and got the box of tissues from her bedside cabinet and flopped back down on the bed "You two will be together soon, have faith" she handed Annabeth the box of tissues, she gratefully smiled and took them.

"You think so?"

"I know so" Piper said with a smile. Annabeth dabbed her eyes with the tissues until it was nearly impossible to guess that she had been crying, she had managed to clean off the mascara that had spread all over her face. They sat in silence for a few moments before Annabeth took another sip from the bottle of water and regained her thoughts,

"So how are you feeling this morning? You don't seem to be suffering from an incurable headache" Annabeth asked sarcastically,

"Well some of us were worried about our roommates and stopped drinking so we could find them" Piper answered with a smirk,

"Aren't you cute" Annabeth grinned, "Speaking of cute...Jason seems...nice"

Piper blushed "Oh he is, he's so lovely. I think when you guys meet properly you'll like him a lot"

"So we don't think he's an arsehole now?"

Piper sighed, "I was still angry with him at the start of the night, I mean he was acting as if everything was fine and that he didn't blow me off over summer. So when we went outside to look for you I confronted him about it and once he explained to me why he didn't get in contact over the summer, I felt awful. I was being so stubborn that he hadn't text me that I had ignored what had happened."

Piper's eyes were starting to water and Annabeth had no idea why or how to stop it "So no, we do think he's an arsehole" Piper finished

Annabeth stayed silent, unsure whether to ask about what had happened.

Piper took a moment to collect her thoughts before she started speaking again

"Last year everything seemed to be normal, I mean it's normal to have some lack of concentration and feel a little drowsy throughout the day so no one thought any different. At the end of the school year my roommate revealed that she had been diagnosed with Narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a rare, long-term brain disorder that causes a person to suddenly fall asleep at inappropriate times. My roommate was Jason's sister, Thalia. I hadn't heard of it before so assumed it wasn't a big deal and that she would be fine, you know didn't think much of it. I figured when she didn't return this year that it was a little more serious than I first thought and that she was getting some sort of therapy to help cure her."

Piper paused, tears started flowing from her eyes

"But last night Jason explained to me that Narcolepsy can result in cataplexy which is a temporary loss of muscle control, and during the summer Thalia lost control of her muscles and fell down the stairs, she hit her head pretty hard and she lost consciousness. They rushed her to hospital where the doctors told them she had slipped... into a...a...a" Piper was struggling to get her words out now and she was starting to hyperventilate when she managed to force the word out of her mouth "coma".

Silence hung in the air, Piper was sobbing now and all Annabeth could do to comfort her was give her a hug and return the box of tissues. Annabeth wasn't sure what to say, she couldn't say 'don't worry everything will be ok' because it might not be, she didn't know that it would be. What do you say in that sort of situation? Annabeth figured only words offering support, she was not going to pretend she knew what Piper was going through because she didn't, she didn't have a clue, the only thing she could do was promise to be here for her.

Which is exactly what she did.

She hugged her tighter and said "I'm here for you Piper, whenever you need, whatever you need, I am here for you"


	9. Chapter 9 Unwanted Conversations

**I am so sorry that I didn't upload this earlier, been such a busy week and only just finished it!**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter and I apologise in advance but don't worry I have a plan and I know the end game!**

The group were sitting down for tea, Jason had sat next to Piper whilst Annabeth was sat opposite and next to Leo. Percy was sat at the other end of the table next to Rachel who was the other side of Leo and opposite Hazel and Frank. Annabeth kept glancing at Piper giving her a supportive smile- back in the room once she had finished crying, she had made Annabeth promise she wouldn't tell anyone. Annabeth obliged, it wasn't her story to share. She wasn't sure if Piper would be ok but she had her and Jason by her side.

Throughout the meal Jason and Piper shared tentative looks whilst Leo kept making Annabeth choke on her drink, every time she took a sip he would say something inappropriate and on several occasions she nearly spat it straight into Pipers face. The 4 of them were having a conversation, which involved Jason telling them a story that resulted in a roar of laughter from them all and the others all looked at them. Annabeth caught Percy's eye and he smiled at her, she hesitated before giving him a small smile back. She didn't want to smile at him, she wanted to ignore him because he was in a relationship but when he smiled at her she couldn't help but smile back, so she dialled her smile down. Annabeth then caught Leo looking past Piper and instead at the back of a caramel haired girl. Annabeth had a hunch about who it was- Calypso.

"Why don't you ask her Leo?"

He took a sip of his drink before answering, his eyes fixated on the girl on the table in front of them. Everyone was making too much noise to notice what her and Leo were discussing.

"Because I know the answer"

"So why not give up and move on?"

He chuckled to himself, "You think me dating someone else would help?"

"Sometimes jealousy helps, gives the other person a little nudge. It helps the other person realise what they've lost"

He lowered his voice, "Is that what you're going to do? You're going to date another guy to make Percy jealous?"

Annabeth looked dumb struck, how did Leo know? she wondered.

He smirked to himself as if her thoughts were being written on her face,

"It's ok, your secrets safe with me"

She nudged him slightly and they smiled at each other,

"Is it obvious?"

He looked at her confused and she nodded in Percy's direction so that he understood. He looked next to him and could see Percy sitting at the end with a drink in his hand, Rachel was leaning on his shoulder but he kept his head up high and engaged in the conversation with Hazel and Frank.

"Only to those who are in the same boat" he smiled with hurt being present in his eyes,

"So how do we get out of the boat?" Annabeth asked sadly, who was now looking over at Percy.

"We wait to be rescued or abandon ship"

She turned her attention back to Leo "But how long do we wait to be rescued?"

Leo smirked again, "If you've got chemistry you only need one more thing- timing. But timings a bitch."

Annabeth smiled, she knew that quote. She looked down the table and could see Percy, he was smiling at something Frank had just said and it sent warmth all over body. Her and Percy defiantly had chemistry and their timing was a bitch. So she had to wait to be rescued, she wasn't going to give up just yet.

Once they had finished their dinner they all got up and moved outside to their bench, they were greeted by Clarisse and Chris who were already there. Clarisse looked at Annabeth and smirked "You alright now princess?"

"Huh?"

Clarisse laughed in Annabeth's face "You don't remember do you?"

Annabeth shook her head

Clarisse laughed a little harder, once she caught her breath she explained,

"Last night, you were walking by the pool announcing that you were a princess and that you were looking for your frog"

Annabeth went bright red, she covered her face, she was never going to live this down. Clarisse laughed even harder at Annabeth's reaction, she struggled to say the next part because of how much she was laughing, "One guy even joked about pushing you into the pool to find the frog"

Leo walked over to them because of how much Clarisse was laughing,

"What are you laughing at? He asked whilst slightly laughing aswell

"The princess!" Clarisse exclaimed

Leo's face widened before he burst into laughter aswell "I knew some chick was going around saying she was a princess but I couldn't remember who!"

Annabeth slipped away and left them to discuss 'the princess', she did not want to know what else she did last night. She sat on the bench and looked at the big group around her. She looked at them individually, Frank, Hazel, Piper, Jason, Leo, Clarrise, Chris and a few guys he was talking to that she still hasn't learnt their names, she couldn't see Percy or Rachel though. She scanned her surroundings again, no they defiantly weren't here. She could hear some faint voices, she tried to focus on them. The wind carried a deep boys voice, she recognised it immediately- Percy's. She got off the bench and crept closer to where the voices were coming from, it was just round the corner and Annabeth could hear them better now so she stopped.

"What the hell is going on with you two" That was Rachel's voice.

Annabeth's heart started racing and she felt a flush of anxiety wave over her, were they talking about her?

"Nothing I promise, I took her to bed last night"

Annabeth could hear Rachel smacking him although she wasn't sure where.

"That is not what I meant. I took her to HER room last night and put her in bed because she was so drunk"

Rachel didn't respond so Percy spoke again "Rachel I was being a good friend"

"Why couldn't someone else do it, why didn't you find me or Hazel or Piper or anyone else?"

"I found her walking down the corridors by herself, as a FRIEND" he emphasised the friend part and carried on talking "I did what any good friend would do and put her to bed. You're telling me if you found Leo walking around drunk you wouldn't just take him to bed? You would find someone else to help you?"

Unless Percy helped another girl last night they were defiantly talking about her.

"So you don't have any feelings towards Annabeth?" Rachel questioned,

Annabeth's ears perked up at the mention of her name.

"Friend feelings. She seems pretty damaged and she's going to need some friends around here, girls and guys. Did you see how she was last night? She was flirting with all the guys, she's a slut"

Annabeth's heart sunk once again and she felt numb like she was going to fall to the ground but she leant against the wall. The next emotion she wasn't expecting; anger. She was furious with Percy, how dare he say that about her, if he was as good as a friend as he claims, then he would not be saying that. As much as she hated where this was going she forced herself to carry on listening. Annabeth heard him sigh heavily,

"You have got to trust me Rachel. There is no other girl that I want, I am with you for a reason, I want to be with you and no one else. I couldn't care less about the other girls."

"You're one smooth talker Jackson"

"That's why you love me"

"I never said that"

"Oh shut up Dare"

Annabeth could hear them passionately kissing, she tried to swallow the lump in her throat and blink back the tears. She quietly made her way back to the group, she went straight to Piper who was standing with Jason.

"Are you ok?" She asked

"Yeah just tired, I think I'm going to head to bed, get a good night sleep for my first real day here"

"Ok just let me say goodbye to everyone and I'll come with you"

"No it's ok you stay here"

Annabeth quickly said goodbye to the group and as she walked past Leo whispered

"I'm abandoning ship"


	10. Chapter 10 Confrontation

It took Annabeth a while to get to sleep, her mind kept going over what she had heard "she's a slut", "she's damaged". A few tears ran down her cheek, she couldn't believe he had said all those things. She sobbed quietly underneath the covers until she was emotionally drained and fell asleep.

She could feel something shaking her arm and there was a noise every time it happened. She couldn't hear very clearly what it was, originally it sounded like a girl saying Dana's Purse. She listened closely the next time she was shook, did she say Hannah Birth? The shake was more violent this time and the word was clear and crisp "Annabeth"

Her eyes slowly tore apart and was greeted by Pipers beaming face.

"Good morning sunshine" Piper got up and pulled the curtains apart allowing the sun light to poor into the room, Annabeth rolled over and shoved her head under the pillow.

"Oh I don't think so missy" Piper pulled off the covers and Annabeth groaned. "Come on you've got to get changed so we can go for breakfast and then come back grab our stuff and go to class"

"You're not even going to brush your teeth?! You disgust me miss M-not-so-Clean"

"Wow that was just so damn funny. I wish I had your wit"

"I wish you had my sense of hygiene"

Piper grabbed her pillow and hit Annabeth "Hurry up"

Annabeth reluctantly gave in, she quickly got dressed into black denim 3/4's with a maroon vest top, she thought about telling Piper what Percy had said last night but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

They grabbed their breakfast and sat with the group, Piper sat with Jason whilst Annabeth slid in next to Leo. She noticed that Percy was opposite her but chose to ignore it, instead she kept her head down and only engaged in conversation with Leo.

"What have you got first lesson?" He asked before chomping down his golden syrup covered pancake,

"History you?"

"Oh cool do you know where you're going? I've got woodwork"

"Not a clue" Annabeth light-heartedly laughed

He pointed his fork across at Percy, Annabeth prayed he wasn't about to say what she thought he was going to suggest,

"Oi Percy"

Percy spun his head towards Leo

"You've got History first right?"

"Yeah I do"

"Well so's Annabeth-"

Annabeth wanted to hide her face into her hands but she decided that would not be the best approach, maybe if she gave Leo a little kick under the table? No Leo isn't the best at subtlety so that would only make things worse so she forced a smile instead.

"-and she doesn't know where she has to go so do you reckon you could take her?"

Whilst Percy looked at Rachel for approval, Leo took the opportunity to wink at Annabeth and she realised he was trying to help her.

"Sure, I can't see why that wouldn't be a problem." Percy smiled and Annabeth wanted to believe it was a sincere one but she couldn't bring herself to. He continued, "We can go grab your stuff after breakfast and head straight over"

Rachel tried her best to be subtle but Annabeth noted Percy jump ever so slightly as if he had been kicked under the table and she could see through Rachel's fake smile- he wasn't supposed to say that.

Annabeth walked ahead of Percy who was holding hands with Rachel. Once she got to her room she opened the door and left it open "I'll be just a sec"

"Ok, I'll just wait here" he called out with Rachel still clung to his side.

Annabeth quickly cleaned her teeth, grabbed her stuff and turned around to face the door to see Percy standing alone with his hands in his front pocket.

"You ready to go? He asked,

Annabeth nodded, she locked the door and they started walking down the stairs in silence. Once they reached Annabeth went to walk right whilst Percy went left and they bumped into each other, she managed to keep hold of her books with the help of Percy's support who had grabbed her shoulder to keep her up straight.

"Sorry" he said,

"Oh no it was my fault, I just assumed it was that way"

Percy laughed "You forgot you were a newbie didn't you?"

"That's not what I said"

He smirked and they went back to walking down the left corridor in silence. When they bumped into each other Annabeth realised Percy hadn't brought his books, or a bag, or anything. She wasn't sure whether he had done it on purpose or just wanted to make sure they got there on time and completely forgot his stuff.

To avoid talking to him Annabeth looked at the artwork that was hung up in the corridor, some were photographs of the school whilst others were drawing of various scenes, one painting included a street party with soldiers celebrating the end of the war, another featured a detailed drawing of a black Labrador in the field; it was so good Annabeth could have sworn it was a photograph.

They finally reached the room and Percy held the door open for her. No one else had arrived, Annabeth scanned the room, she saw lots of posters celebrating the Tudors, the American Civil War, The Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. She spotted a clock above the desk. 8:45. They still had 15 minutes before they were supposed to be here. Annabeth went to sit in the seat infront of the teachers desk,

"I wouldn't sit there"

She grabbed her stuff and moved to the seat behind,

"Defiantly not there"

She grabbed her stuff and was about to put it down when Percy spoke again "Or there"

"Well where can I seat Percy?" She snapped

"Far right, 2nd from the back"

She slammed her belongings down and pulled her chair back and slouched down it. Percy smirked and took a seat diagonally behind her on the left.

"You made me sit here so I could be closer to you?" She asked eyes glued to the wall in front

He stayed silent for a couple of minutes waiting for Annabetn to turn and face him and when she did, he explained "The first seat you chose was next to stinky Pete, the next one was in between the Stoll brothers who always have paper fights that you don't want to get caught between and the 3rd one is already taken"

"So who am I around now?"

"On your left is Luke Castellan, infront is Silena Beauregard and behind you is Grover Underwood"

She nodded in approval,

"You have no idea who they are" he laughed "don't worry this is the cool group"

"Pfft not if you're in it" she smirked

He smiled back at her and all the feelings she had tried to bury resurfaced,

"So err we never got a chance to talk about the party" he said out of the blue. The mention of the party struck a nerve in Annabeth and her heart turned cold,

"Yeah sorry I've been too busy flirting with all the guys" she turned her body back to face the teachers desk, evidentially away from Percy.

"Huh?"

"Oh you didn't know? Been here 3 days and I'm the school slut"

"Annabeth that is not-"

"-no Percy, I believe you described me as 'damaged' to your girlfriend" she replied callously

"Annabeth" he pleaded "Please let me explain"

"What is there to explain?"

"I promise you I didn't mean a word of it, I was trying to get her off my back"

"Why did you have to say them?"

"I needed to convince her that I had no feelings for you and at the same time I was trying to convince myself. I thought if I said those things like I meant them then maybe it wouldn't be so hard to look at you everyday"

She looked over at him and he was looking at her with heavy hearted sea green eyes, she knew that the two of them could only end in two ways but she wasn't ready to find out which way and clearly neither was he.

Suddenly the door swung open and students filled the room, Annabeth and Percy immediately looked away from one another. The students sat down and the lesson began.


	11. Chapter 11 Classmates

The seats around her quickly filled up. The guy on her left was the first to introduce himself "Hey I'm Luke"

She studied his features; short-cropped sandy blonde hair, icy blue eyes, an athletic and muscular build but the best part about him is his mischievous smile. He was handsome yet intriguing, Annabeth felt a little nervous around him. By looking at him Annabeth could tell he was rebellious, more than Percy, which created a nervous energy and that excited her.

"Hi, I vaguely recognise you"

He chuckled, "Yeah, I was at the pool party"

He gave her a cheeky smile with a hint of an apologetic look, she gasped when she realised why

"You're the one that tried to get me wet"

He raised one eyebrow and produced a smug look,

"Oh really?"

At first she was confused at his comment but when she looked across at Percy and saw his envy and it was only then that she understood how Luke must of took her comment.

"Oh, no, no, that's not what I meant"

"No it's ok, I get it" Luke insisted "I'll try harder next time" and he winked at her.

Annabeth could feel herself getting hotter and a brighter shade of red with every passing moment. The girl infront, that Annabeth remembered Percy called Silena, turned around

"Take no notice of him, he's a jerk"

Luke stuck his tounge out at Silena but she just rolled her eyes at him,

"What else are studying?" Turning her attention back to Annabeth.

"Architecture, Pyschology and ICT aswell as the compulsive ones obviously (Maths, English and Science) how about you?"

"I'm doing Pyschology aswell! I'm also studying Drama and French"

"Oh wow! I bet they all link in really nicely with each other"

They were interrupted when Percy and Luke both shouted"Ayyy, about time Goat Boy". The envy she had seen in Percy only moments ago, had melted away.

"Goat boy?" Annabeth asked

Silena wasn't interested and just pointed behind Annabeth where she turned to see a Caucasian boy with curly hair and brown eyes.

She turned back to Silena "Why do they call him goat boy?"

Just then she felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned around to see the boy sitting on the desk behind her "Because my true ambition of life is to grow a goatee" he said

She looked at him with a blank expression

He returned the same look and it lasted a few minutes before he decided to shout "Baa" right in her face.

"Ok class time to settle down" the teacher finally said "you've had your fun and introductions" The students quietened down and went back to their seats, "Grover, your seat not the desk"

Goat boy quickly scrambled into his seat.

"For those new faces, of which I can only see a few, my name is Mr Dionysus-"

"Mr D" Luke, Percy and Grover started chanting.

"Boys" he walked over to their isle and looked at them individually before speaking

"I'm surprised your back" he said unenthusiastically

"And leave you with this boring lot? Never! " Percy responded

"I meant back here, in this school, I'm surprised you haven't been kicked out yet"

"You'd miss us too much Sir" Luke replied mischievously,

"I don't know about that, I might actually enjoy teaching"

"Now we know that's not true" Grover laughed

"Boys I hope you'll behave this year" he said sternly

"We do every year" Percy said,

"Apart from that one year where-" Luke reminded him and Percy shook his head in disbelief

"I still can't believe you two did that" Grover chuckled

Percy and Luke simultaneously high fived "Oh-Yeah"

"None of that this year, you will behave in my class!"

"As you wish, now are you going to teach or do you want to carry on with this?" Luke gestured to the 4 of them as innocently as he could.

Annabeth could hardly believe what she had just witnessed, Mr Dionysus smirked and walked back to the centre of the classroom. "As I was saying, I'm Mr Dionysus and I will be your history teacher. Up until Christmas you will be learning about the different mythologies; Greek, Roman, Egyptian and another of your choice."

The rest of the lesson went by pretty quickly, they didn't open their books or even write anything down. Mr D went into more detail about the specifications of each mythology and what would be expected of them; they were to produce a paper at the end of each one and they also had to give a presentation which they would do in pairs. Annabeth secretly hoped that her and Percy would be partnered together for the Greeks but she would never admit it out loud.

Once the bell rung Mr D dismissed them but asked if Annabeth could stay behind. Percy shot her an impressed look and mouthed "How'd you get in trouble already?"

She stood by her desk with her books in her hands and politely mouthed back "piss off"

He chuckled and left the room with Grover, Silena and Luke who winked at her just before he closed the door.

"How was my first lesson?" Mr D asked curiously,

"It was good Sir, I look forward to the rest of them"

"I'm glad and what do you think of your classmates?" He asked as he sat down on the edge of his desk and folded his arms.

She stayed standing up, a little nervous to sit down "Yeah they seem alright"

"I'm particularly interested in what you think of the three musketeers"

"Percy, Grover and Luke sir?"

"That's the trio"

What was she supposed to say? "I like them"

He sighed, clearly she gave the wrong answer.

"Look kid, you get good grades"

Uh oh, Annabeth hadn't heard this speech before but she knew where this was going

"I think those 3 are going to distract you and possibly even get you into trouble, particularly Luke"

Annabeth was a little surprised when he said Luke, she was expecting him to say Percy.

"Now it's not too late to move seats" he continued "there are some bright students in this class Annabeth"

She glanced at the window on the opposite side of the room where she could see Percy and Luke leaning against the wall talking. She caught eyes with them and they started pulling faces at her. She smiled.

"I think I'll learn everything I need from where I'm sat at the minute Mr D"

He sighed again, "Ok then, you're dismissed"

Annabeth smiled at her teacher and promptly left the room where she was greeted by Percy and Luke.

"What you do?" Percy asked as they walked through the corridors,

"I bet she clogged up the toilets" Luke sniggered

"I have more class than that" Annabeth responded

"No she's too pure to do something as trashy as that" Percy grinned

"Maybe she blew up the science department"

"I just said she's a good girl"

"I can change that" Luke smirked and Annabeth felt her cheeks go red and suddenly felt the temperature rise. She glanced at Percy and could see that he had clenched his jaw and his hands were now fists. Luckily they reached the canteen when Luke said he would see them tomorrow

"Why don't you join us?" Annabeth asked, eager to learn more about him

"Annabeth that's not a good idea" Percy whispered,

Luke shook his head "Definitely not, I'll see you around" and with that walked away.

"Why can't he join us?" Confused, Annabeth asked Percy

He sighed still looking at the spot where Luke had just been stood, "let's just say our group of friends don't like my cousin"

"He's your cousin?!" Annabeth exclaimed

Percy nodded, "I promise to fill you in later but we should really be heading over to the group, they'll wonder where we are."

"You mean Rachel will be" Annabeth muttered

Percy sounded wounded "Yes I mean Rachel"

* * *

 ** _I am so sorry that it was a short chapter but I have some good and bad news for you!_**

 ** _Good News; I got my A-level results this week and I'm going to be attending University in September!_**

 ** _Bad News; I am going away on holiday tomorrow so won't be able to update until the 25th August!_**

 ** _I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to reading reviews and uploading some chapters when I get back_**

 ** _X x_**

* * *

 ** _Thanks guest for pointing out the auto correct - it has now been changed :-)_**


	12. Chapter 12 Mystery Blonde

The rest of the day went pretty fast, Annabeth sat next to Silena in psychology. It followed the same routine as her history lesson; the teacher introduced herself and the sub topics for the term.

At lunch she was quiet, lost in her thoughts - no one noticed when she slipped away early. Annabeth couldn't help but wonder about Luke - why wasn't it a good idea that Percy's cousin joined them?

On her way out of her maths lesson Annabeth noticed a tall blonde leaning on the wall opposite

"Luke?"

He looked up and beamed

"Annabeth! Just the girl I was waiting for"

All the other students carried on walking whilst she hung back in the middle of the corridor.

"Me?" She asked

"Wait... You are Annabeth Chase? The hot girl I tried to push in the pool?"

"That's me"

She started walking down the corridor ignoring the fact he had just called her hot, he caught up with her and grinned

"Listen what are you doing now?"

She bluntly responded "I'm on my way to English"

Luke's icy blue eyes showed disappointment "Oh ok" he grumbled,

"Don't you have a lesson to get to?" She queried

Luke turned his head at her as they took a left down the corridor,

"You worried about me getting in trouble Chase?"

"Something like that"

"Don't you worry about me"

Annabeth smiled "I'll try not to".

They walked in silence until they reached the classroom, she went to open the door but saw that the class had already begun. She spun around to tell Luke but he was already at the bottom of the corridor and before she could call out to him, he went through a set of double doors. Annabeth sighed, turned back to the classroom and knocked on the door before entering and apologising.

Annabeth had finished her school day and she felt like a ton of weight had been lifted off her shoulders. However, at the same it felt like a shackle with a weighted ball had been strapped to her ankle with Luke scribbled all over it. She had a bad feeling about him. Yet she wasn't sure if this was due to instinct or because of Percy saying that it wasn't a good idea. Annabeth wasn't one to judge from other people's opinions but somehow coming from Percy made her nervous.

She was on her way up the stairs when a body blocked her path,

"Excuse me" Annabeth said as she was looking down at her feet, she was too exhausted to see which arrogant arse was in front of her. When the body didn't move, she side stepped to the right and tried to go up but the body followed and blocked her route again.

"What the?-"

Annabeth looked up to be greeted by a familiar face, she sighed "Luke"

"You sure are cute when you're angry" he said with a cheeky grin

"Stand there much longer and you won't have eyes to see my cuteness"

Luke retreated to the side and held his hands in the air submissively.

As she passed she gave him a sarcastic smile and they made their way up the stairs

"Where are you going?" He asked

"My room to put all my books and everything away"

"Oh cool"

He shoved his hands in his front Jean pockets but had his thumbs sticking out at the top.

As they reached the top of the stairs, his left hand started scratching the back of his head, he continued to scratch it for maybe a 100m before he spoke

"Annabeth?"

She replied blankly, "Luke"

"What are you doing later?"

"How late is later?" Annabeth asked

"After dinner"

"Nothing I don't think"

"Do you want to...erm maybe... Hang out?"

Annabeth thought about it for a second but decided there would be no harm in agreeing

"Sure"

"Great! I'll meet you in the canteen about 8?"

Annabeth nodded. Luke beamed and nodded as well "Great! Well I'll catch you later then" and with that he walked back towards the stairs and down them without glancing back but Annabeth could hear him whistling. It wasn't until Annabeth reached her room that she realised Luke might consider this a date. Annabeth thought it was just 2 classmates hanging out but it occurred to her that he and others (if they found out) may actually point out that it's a date, with Percy's cousin. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel or how she did feel about that.

Annabeth found her room, room-mateless. Piper must still be on her way back from her lesson.

They had agreed to meet back in their room after their last lesson so they could gossip about their day and then go off for tea. Whilst she waited for her roommate to arrive, Annabeth pulled out her iPod, flopped on her bed and plugged her headphones in. She got up her favourite playlist 'Emotions'- it contained a mixture of all genres and artists to suit her every need. One moment she would be rocking out to Imagine Dragons and the next she would be crying to old school Beyoncé. She closed her eyes and started singing, she had plugged into the world of music and escaped reality.

That was until someone unplugged her headphones.

"Rebecca Black?! Friday?! Really Annabeth?!"

"You took so long I thought it was now Friday"

"I'm still judging and judging hard" Piper sounded serious.

Annabeth smirked "What took you so long anyway-" She sat up and saw Jason sitting on the bed opposite her, he made a guilty smile

"-Of course, I shouldn't have asked"

"So are you going to perform to the group later on or...?" Jason laughed.

Annabeth threw her pillow at him but he caught it with ease.

"I thought I was alone"

"You will be if you ever sing with people around again"

She made a disgusted face and turned to Piper

"Piper, say something to him"

Piper walked over to Jason and passionately kissed him, Annabeth rolled her eyes

"That is not saying something"

Piper pulled away with her eyes fixed on Jason's, "Now apologise to Annabeth or you won't be getting one again"

Annabeth grinned in triumph whilst Jason slouched back with an expression stating that he clearly thought this was unfair and mumbled "sorry".

Piper got up and say on the edge of Annabeth's bed,

"So what happened this morning?" She asked

Annabeth scrunched her face up in confusion

Piper rolled her eyes "You and Percy twitbrain"

Annabeth's eyes looked last Piper and at Jason who was sheepishly looking at the floor, Piper followed her gaze.

"Jason won't say a word. Will you Jason?"

Jason shook his head "I will not tell my best friend what my... Err..."

Piper lifted her eyebrows to see where he was going with this and Annabeth prayed he didn't screw up. Apparently he recognised that he had to tread lightly which made it harder for him to get his words out

"... my... Girl...'s... Best friend says about him"

Piper gave an approving look and Jason seemed relieved. Annabeth didn't believe what Jason said was intended to be comforting but somehow it was.

She sighed, "we walked to the classroom mostly in silence and once in there he suggested where I should I sit"

"Next to him?" Piper interrupted

"No in front one but to the right"

"Nice" Jason nodded his head approvingly as if admiring Percy's choice.

Piper turned to him, "What do you mean nice?"

Annabeth moved her head round the side slightly so she could Jason clearly,

"Oh...well...he's played it cool"

Both girls raise their eyebrows at him and he elaborates

"He can watch you without even realising it himself, he'll just find himself looking at you because you'll be in his eyeline. If you sat next to him, it would be obvious when he's looking at you and others may start to pick up in it. If you sat on the other side of the classroom people could mistake him for looking at them rather than at you. Where you sit now also means he can join in on a conversation. He's played it cool and I doubt he even realises it"

Piper tutted, "Whoever said love isn't like Chess clearly never experienced boarding school"

Annabeth wasn't sure how she felt about being in a chess match, were her and Percy opponents or were they chess pieces? Something she knew for certain was that she was still processing what Percy had told her after the seating incident and she wasn't ready to share that yet and she opted to keep that she was meeting with Luke later a secret too. Besides what if she was wrong about Luke and they really were just classmates hanging out tonight.


	13. Chapter 13 Blonde's revelation

Tea was just like all the other nights, the group got their food (Annabeth had opted for spaghetti tonight which was a bad idea considering she was wearing a white dress) and then they would go sit down in their usual spot. Tonight was different though, Percy and Rachel were sitting on their own table; alone. Due to those two sitting elsewhere, Annabeth spoke to Hazel and Frank a lot more, the whole group seemed to interact better and they laughed frequently. Annabeth learnt more about the group such as the age they all joined- Percy, Piper and Leo were the original trio joining at the age of 12. At 13, Hazel joined, her and Piper had shared a lesson together. Frank moved the conversation to when he joined; last year at 14 years old along with Rachel and Jason. Despite their openness, Annabeth felt like they were holding something back and briefly when they were talking about Hazel they had all exchanged glances as if they were reminding each other not to say anything, including Piper. Annabeth wanted to ask about Luke so she decided to talk to Leo, she lowered her voice so only Leo could hear, not that it mattered, the others were reminiscing about some teacher,

"Leo can I ask you about Luke?"

He nearly spat his drink out but he managed to swallow, he looked her dead in the eyes

"Luke?" He shook his head "I don't know Annabeth, that's a sensitive and sore subject...for a lot of us"

"But he's Percy's cousin?"

Leo sighed "That's part of the problem" he continued "Look I'm saying this to you as a friend and as someone who cares about you, he's trouble"

"So's Percy from what I heard in History today"

"Let me guess, Luke's in your class?"

Annabeth nodded and Leo sighed, looked up to the sky and fell back into his chair muttering something along the lines of Percy being an idiot. After a few seconds he leans forward with his head in his hands, the others still don't seem to notice Leo and Annabeth's private chat.

Leo moved closer to Annabeth and quietly talked to her "Luke brings out the worse in Percy, gets him into trouble"

"How do you mean?"

"If you want to know more you'll have to ask Percy but do yourself a favour and don't mention Luke to the group, particularly Jason"

Annabeth nodded and they turned their attention back to the others but she couldn't help wonder what Luke had done and in particular why he brought the worse out in Percy. She decided she was going to take Leo's advice except she would ask Luke not Percy.

The gang got up from their seats and started making their way towards the student area, Percy and Rachel waved them off and said they would catch up with them later. Annabeth couldn't help but glance over where she could see they had both dressed up for the occasion, Rachel was wearing a black crop top which finished at her shoulders (it reminded Annabeth of Sandy from Grease) with a white skirt. Whilst Percy looked sophisticated in a light blue shirt where the sleeves were rolled up and had tucked his shirt into white shorts. Annabeth wondered what the occasion was. Everyone was coupled off except for Leo so she caught up with him and asked,

"First let me apologise for earlier but Luke is not someone we care or talk about" he responded

"I'm sure you've got your reasons and you're just looking out for me"

"I will always look out for you, which is why it pains me to tell you what Percy and Rachel are celebrating tonight"

He sighs "it was Rachel's idea to... celebrate...The day they first-"

"Oh god! They've done it? They've had sex!"

"What?! No! You have got one dirty mind Annabeth Chase" he tutted

An embarrassed Annabeth lowered her voice and asked "What are they celebrating then?"

"Their first kiss! This time last year they kissed"

"That requires a celebration?!" Annabeth tried to hide her jealousy and anger but she wasn't succeeding "Why does that mean dressing fancy and eating alone?" She grunted

"Well there was a party last year and they ended up kissing but they didn't actually become a couple until June"

"That's months after the kiss though?"

"They've basically been together since the kiss but Percy waited until June to make it official. Rachel wanted to be together after their first few dates but Percy held back. So I think Rachel considers this their first anniversary because in her mind this is when it all started"

Annabeth felt her heart sink a little, if Percy had just held back until school started after the summer then maybe everything would be different. Maybe her and Percy would have kissed at the pool party and it would be them all dressed up tonight, sitting alone on a date.

The gang went indoors to the student area where they all sunk into the sofas. Frank challenged Annabeth to a game of air hockey where she kicked his arse winning 10-1. He was setting up for a re-match when she looked at her watch- 7:55.

"Sorry Frank I've got to go, maybe Hazel can take my place?"

"Sure, apparently I could use the practice"

Hazel replaced Annabeth and as Annabeth was walking out Piper grabbed her arm,

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, err I'm meeting a few classmates"

Piper raised her eyebrows and her facial expressions gave away what she was thinking.

Annabeth lowered her voice "I'm not going to ruin their date, I promise it's classmates"

"Just don't do anything stupid"

Piper released her arm and returned to the group whilst Annabeth made her way to the canteen.

He was sitting there waiting for her, one of the outside lights shone onto him like a spotlight and she could see him clearly. He really was handsome, she realised in history that he was but she didn't realise how much. He was looking out onto the fields and hadn't noticed her presence so she decided to sneak around him and before she could stop herself covered his eyes with her hands. He spoke gently "I was starting to worry you wouldn't show"

She laughed and took the seat next to him and he turned his body to face her. His eyes studied every inch of her body before speaking "You look gorgeous"

"You didn't clean up to bad yourself" she remarked.

He smiled and Annabeth found her self smiling aswell.

"You ready to go?" he asked

"Where are we going?"

"Wait and see"

They stood up and Luke took hold of her hand, she didn't object. Luke dragged her through the school, a different route than Annabeth knew, Annabeth warned him that the group were in the student area so he changed directions and took them an alternative way. He led her up some stairs and down a corridor and before she knew it he had opened a door. She stepped through and saw that they were on the pool balcony, Annabeh peered over and could see a mixed group of 17 year olds messing around in the pool. She looked back at Luke who had put his fingers to his lips motioning her to be quiet, he led her to the other side of the balcony and quietly opened a door which took them to a terrace. Annabeth wandered over to the side and peered across the view in front of her, to the immediate left was the rest of the school, the far left had the forest which stretched over to the far right but on her immediate right was a smaller part of the school which led out towards the field but stopped short where some benches had been places. She recognised what was directly below her, this was where the group would usually eat and hang out. Annabeth looked onto the field where she spotted a couple laying down on a blanket not too far from the group's area. Annabeth backed away from the side and turned only to bump into Luke. He looked out towards the forest

"This is my favourite spot throughout the whole school" he smiled

"How'd you find it? I've never seen anyone up here"

"Ha, when I joined at the age of 13-"

That's why the group paused Annabeth thought to herself, they weren't sure whether to mention when Luke joined or not

"-me and Percy stole the keys...and then we went...exploring" he grinned clearly proud of his mischief

"First year and you stole the keys?" She raised her eyebrows in surprise

"What can I say? I'm a bad boy"

Annabeth laughed whilst she turned back and leaned against the terrace wall facing the fields, the couple had gone.

"You and Percy are close aren't you?" She asked curiously

"Just the way we've been brought up I guess" he fell silent staring off into the distance as he leaned against the wall beside her and Annabeth wasn't sure how to respond

"We did fall out in the summer though"

This shocked Annabeth after witnessing their behaviour earlier that day "Really? You seemed like best buds in history"

"I think Percy wants everything to go back to normal and by pretending he's forgiven me is his way of maintaining the friendship we had built"

"Forgiven you? What did you do? ... If you don't mind me asking?" She added

Luke turned his head towards her "He didn't tell you?"

Annabeth shook her head

"And the others certainly wouldn't have"

She remained silent, thinking back to what Leo had told her.

"You have to promise me that you won't change whatever option you have of me" he pleaded

Annabeth nodded and Luke took a deep breathe before he spoke

"When I joined so did Jason's twin sister Thalia"

"I thought Jason joined last year?" She paused "Wait twins?!"

Luke grimaced at her "Yes twins. Jason did join last year but Thalia joined the previous year, she couldn't cope with the travelling and consistency of swapping schools where as Jason managed to, however he saw how much happier Thalia became and decided he wanted to attend aswell"

Annabeth was in a state of disbelief, why didn't Jason tell her that Thalia was his twin? Was it to painful for him to refer to her as his twin?

"How much do you know about Thalia?" Luke asked

"Only that she was Jason's sister and Pipers roommate"

Something told Annabeth to keep that she knew about Thalia's illness to herself.

Luke nodded approvingly and continued "Ok so the year I joined was the same year Thalia did. That year we became great friends, we were part of the group. Last year me and Thalia became a lot closer and after Christmas we decided to take it a step further." He paused and Annabeth could tell he was replaying the memories in his mind "Everything was great between us until July, she became really distant and started going a little crazy on me. She accused me of cheating on her!" Luke clenched his jaw and screwed his hands up into a fist, he turned his head to look at her and she could see the anger in his eyes

"I tried talking to her but she refused to believe me then she told me that she had been diagnosed with Narcolepsy which was a huge bombshell. I knew she'd been struggling but I didn't realise why" he sighed "Thalia wanted to focus on beating her Narcolepsy so she broke up with me"

Luke continued to stare at the fields but Annabeth could see the tears rolling off his cheeks "Then when I found out she was in a coma" he shook his head in disbelief and cried a little harder, she grabbed his hand to show her support.

"I didn't handle it very well, I turned to drugs and drink" he smiled a little "Can you believe it? 15 years old and I turned to alcohol and drugs for comfort. The whole gang shunned me out, pretended I didn't exist. No one wanted to save me. Apparently rumours had been spread and they all believed I had cheated and that I broke up with Thalia"

Annabeth gave his hand a light squeeze and Luke wiped the tears away with his spare hand and continued to talk "Even Percy, he was the only one I truly thought I could rely on from the group, being family and all, I thought he would believe me but he turned his back on me like the rest of them. His dad spoke to him and told him that family have stick by each other no matter what. That's the only reason he's talking to me"

Annabeth and Luke's eyes met and before she could react he buried his head on her shoulder sobbing and she wrapped her arms around him to offer support. They sunk to the ground with their backs leaning against the wall, Luke continued to cry whilst she stroke the back of his head.


	14. Chapter 14 Breakfast

**Sorry it's been so long guys been struggling to update!**

 **A short chapter but an exciting one (I thought so anyway) hopefully** **the next one will be longer!**

* * *

Annabeth and Luke stayed in that position for a couple more hours, he eventually stopped crying but they remained seated for a while longer. Luke made the first move, he jumped off and brushed himself down "Thanks for... Tonight... but we should probably get going now"

Annabeth remained seated and pressed her lips together whilst nodding, he reached out for her hand, which she accepted and scrambled to her feet. Luke walked her to the top of her stairs before heading back to his room, she figured it must still be painful for him to walk down the corridor. When she entered Piper was tucked up in her bed fast asleep, Annabeth decided not to disturb her and went to bed aswell.

In the queue for breakfast Annabeth was bombarded by Piper's questions,

"Who were you with last night?

Where did you go?

What did you do?

When did you get back?

Do you prefer them over us? Oh god you're going to ditch me as best friends and we'll just be roommates who see each other when we're going to bed!"

"With any luck, not even then" Annabeth smirked as she tried to decide what she felt like eating, Piper scowled at her causing Annabeth to chuckle.

"Relax Piper" Annabeth reached over for an apple and turned to face Piper "we're best friends, you should trust me"

Piper was about to respond when they both noticed that everyone had lowered their voices and was looking behind them, they turned to see Percy leaning over the table and being confrontational towards Luke. The girls exchanged glances,

"Why's Percy talking to... him?" Piper asked quietly, Annabeth detected a sound of disgust when she said 'him'

"I don't know but it can't happen here" Annabeth said scanning the room, everyone's attention was on the boys. "We need to separate them"

Annabeth went to walk over but Piper pulled her back "Hang on a minute"

Annabeth reluctantly hung back where she watched Percy and Luke exchange heated words, after a few minutes the dispute seemed to be over and Percy appeared to be walking away when suddenly he stopped. His head looking at the floor and his hands clenched into fists, Annabeth could see it and so could Piper,

"He deserves this. Trust me, he's had this coming" Piper said smugly

Annabeth was too late to react as Percy turned back around with his eyes narrowed and walked over to Luke, he swung back and punched him just below the cheekbone and hit his jaw. Luke stumbled back holding the side of his face and once he found his balance wiped his mouth clean and spat out the blood on the floor. This time Annabeth and Piper found their feet and ran towards the boys before Luke could take a punch at Percy, Annabeth launched herself in between them and pushed Luke back a little, not a lot but just enough to startle him. She turned to Percy and saw his eyes pleading for her to walk away with him but Piper tugged at his arm and insisted that they leave. Annabeth nodded and Percy walked outside with Piper. Annabeth turned her attention back to Luke who was watching Percy leave, "You, let's go" and they left in the opposite direction.

Annabeth remained in the empty corridor whilst Luke cleaned up in the toilets, when he came out she pushed him against the wall,

"What the hell was that?"

"What was what?" He asked guiltily

"Don't play dumb" she stated angrily, "I want an explanation"

"I'm the guy who got punched and you're asking me? Go demand one off precious Percy"

Annabeth stayed silent and eventually Luke caved, he rolled his eyes and sighed

"I don't know, Jackson just went crazy on me, it was unprovoked"

She folded her arms and scowled at him before turning on her heels, she didn't believe him but she needed to check on Percy, she walked away but just before she opened the door she shouted to Luke

"Keep your head down today, we don't want the other side damaged"

She found Percy sitting outside on one of the benches by himself with his head in his hands, Annabeth took a deep breathe before striding up and taking the seat next to him.

"You ok?" She asked

"Piper congratulated me, said that I had done the right thing and that if it wasn't me then it would have been Jason"

"So you wished it had been Jason?"

Percy shook his head and looked at her "No because then I would of been forced to choose sides, my friend or my cousin"

"It looks like you chose a side today"

Percy shoved his hands through his hair pushing it back,

"It wasn't about Thalia, I'm assuming he told you?"

She gave a slight nod unsure how Percy knew he had told her

"It was about you"

Annabeth asked nervously "Me?"

He nodded, "Me and Rachel were sitting on the field and I thought I saw 2 people standing on the secret terrace"

Annabeth's face dropped, he had seen them together.

"The one that only me and Luke know about so I said walked Rachel back to her room said goodnight and headed to the terrace to see who it was..." He trailed off unable to finish his sentence

Annabeth wanted to apologise but no words came out, Percy swallowed and continued, refusing to make eye contact with her

"I was.." He sighed "confused to say the least so I went back to my room where Leo informed that you had been asking questions about Luke" his tone of voice changed, he was angry and frustrated now "What you saw this morning was me warning Luke"

"Warning Luke? Are you kidding me? We're friends Percy! He needs one in this place after the way you lot have treated him after the last few months"

"Way we've treated him? You've got to be kidding me! He did tell you that he cheated and broke up with Thalia when she was diagnosed right?"

Annabeth got defensive "He didn't! Luke did not cheat"

"You weren't even here! How can you believe what he says?"

Annabeth raised her voice and funnelled all of her pain and anger through it

"How can I believe you when you say you have feelings for me and then the same day go on a date with your girlfriend celebrating your first kiss?! How am I supposed to believe that one Percy?"

He was lost for words for a moment or two, he looked into her eyes and she could of sworn she could saw tears in his eyes. "I just need more time" he confessed, his eyes pleading with hers and Annabeth could feel her heart racing all she wanted to do was comfort him and bury herself in his warm chest.

"Me and Luke are just friends but we have to figure out what we are because I can't continue like this Percy"

He nodded "I'll see you in History, last lesson" he smiled and left, leaving Annabeth alone wondering who he would choose.


	15. Chapter 15 Trouble

Mr D had started the lesson but Annabeth couldn't help but notice 2 empty chairs, she leaned forward and whispered to Silena,

"Where are Luke and Percy?"

Silena subtly leaned backwards but refused to take her eyes off Mr D,

"Don't worry, this is normal for them"

And she went back to copying the notes off the board.

Annabeth realised that Silena was oblivious to the event that had occurred in the morning, she felt a tap on her shoulder and just like Silena did, subtly leaned backwards.

"Dude this isn't right" Grover expressed,

"Where are they?"

"I have no idea, they said they would be here"

Annabeth nodded, "I'm going to look for them"

"How? Mr D won't let you"

Annabeth smirked "I have my advantages" and went back to her normal seating position, leaving Grover with a puzzled look on his face.

After a few minutes Annabeth raised her hand,

"Yes Miss Chase?" Mr D asked flatly,

"May I be excused to go to the toilet?"

Annabeth heard Grover chucking to himself

"Didn't you go at lunch?" Mr D asked, still focused on writing on the board

"Well yeah"

He looked over at Annabeth "Then it can wait another 50 minutes until the end of class" he turned his attention back to the board thinking the discussion had ended.

"No it can't Sir!" She exclaimed with a guilty look on her face, she hadn't meant for it to be an outburst like that but she desperately needed to find the boys.

He sighed and motioned for her to leave, she thanked him and stood up with her bag.

"You can leave your bag here though Miss Chase"

"I can't do that Sir"

He threw his hands up in the air "And why not Miss Chase?"

Annabeth was aware that the whole class had now turned to see her response and she knew exactly how to embarrass him and she didn't care if it embarrassed her,

"I am on my period so unless you want me to bleed on your chair then I would like to go and sort myself out"

The whole class was stunned with her response and Mr D practically shoo'd her out of the door and said that if she wanted to take 5 minutes to go and eat some chocolate then she should. On her way out she got a grin from Grover and she could tell that she had impressed him. Now she had to find the boys and knock their heads together for forcing her to use the period excuse.

She checked the student area first and then the canteen but found it empty, she looked out onto the field and couldn't see them their either. She stopped and thought, 'Where on earth could they be?'. As she was about to go search the library she remembered Luke saying the terrace was his favourite spot and that him and Percy found it together, could it be that they both went there to sort things out? She ran with her spirits high, she felt confident that they would both be there. She crept through the balcony careful to keep her head down so the class in the pool wouldn't spot her, she reached the end door and saw that it was slightly open. Annabeth pushed it open and sure enough found both boys slumped against the wall talking and to her surprise, laughing. Annabeth stood in the doorway dumbfounded as to what she was seeing,

Percy spotted her first "Oh hey, Annabeth hey"

Luke then noticed her and produced a menacing grin,

Percy sounded dreary and that was enough to shake Annabeth out of her trance,

"Are you guys ok?"

"Me and my... boy Lukey here ... are fineeeeeee... but you don't... look so... good" his speech was slurred

"I don't look good?" Annabeth queried

"You always look good but-" Luke replied but was interrupted by Percy

"You have... 2 heads and... spiders crawling... all over you"

Luke laughed at his cousin and Annabeth tried to remain calm and quickly double checked herself but couldn't see any spiders on her which was a huge relief, she didn't want to freak out in front of the boys because she would never hear the end of it. As she got closer to the boys she saw that their eyes were bloodshot and Percy kept sniffing and wiping his nose. Percy seemed agitated as he was looking all around, she was about to ask the boys what they had done when the wind picked up and the smell drifted over to her and confirmed her suspicions. Weed. The boys had smoked Marijuana. She crouched down to Percy and he could barely keep his eyes on her, Luke stood up and wondered over to a bench

"Oh Percy, what did you do?" She brushed his hair out of his face and her fingers ran all the way down the side of his cheek as he struggled to string his sentence together ,

"I... you'd...be happy... Me and Luke... Friends"

She sighed, "I'm glad your friends but you didn't need to resort to drugs"

"Tor boo..."

Annabeth's face scrunched up in confusion whilst Percy started to drift off but Annabeth shook him a little and he jolted upright

"For you" He whispered before he started to drift off again and Annabeth heard Luke laughing,

"He's pathetic, that was only his first" Luke took another puff of his joint,

"We need to get him to the medics, now Luke"

"Why should I help? He threw a punch at me only a few hours ago"

"And you better pray he doesn't find out that you got him high otherwise you'll have another bruised cheek"

"And if I told you it was his idea?"

"I'd say you were lying"

Luke smirked and Annabeth shook Percy awake again

"..Rachel.." He muttered

The colour in Annabeth's face faded, she felt like her heart had just been ripped out and she wanted to throw up but Percy beat her to it, she moved around so she was behind Percy and rubbed his back whilst offering him comforting words.

"It's ok Percy, I'm here"

Luke laughed harder and Annabeth shot him a look, he just tutted and took another puff

"Why aren't you like this?" She asked

"I am a recovering drug addict" he said smugly "I'm used to it"

Percy threw up again and Annabeth couldn't help but feel responsible,

"Luke, I know you're a good guy and I think Percy knows it aswell which is why he came to make amends so please help me get your cousin to the medics and I swear I won't say it was you"

He pondered this for a second, Percy tipped his head onto Annabeth's shoulder but she pushed him away so that he was in an upright position, she didn't want him to choke on his own sick.

"Please Luke" she pleaded

He sighed, put his joint out and hopped off the bench "I'm doing this for you, not for him"

Annabeth ignored him as they lifted Percy to his feet, she wrapped one arm over her shoulder and Luke did the same the other side.

They managed to walk across the balcony unnoticed by the students below and down the corridor where they entered the medical room. The Nurse made them put him on a bed, Annabeth said that he had smoked weed so the nurse asked Annabeth to make him drink some water whilst she tried to take his blood pressure. Once the nurse managed to get a reading she went and got Mr Chiron who then demanded an explanation, Luke looked at Annabeth waiting for her to explain,

"I had just gone to the toilet and was on my way back to class when Luke ran up to me and said that he had found Percy and needed help getting him to go the medical room so we ran back to him and brought him here"

"Is this true Luke?"

"Every word Sir"

"So why do you smell of weed aswell Master Castellan?"

"I guess I didn't throw the joint far enough away from me when I was helping Sir"

Mr Chiron nodded, approving Luke's response whilst Annabeth made Percy take another sip, before he closed his eyes and fell asleep

"What do we do now?" Annabeth asked

"We have to monitor Percy for the next 24 hours whilst he recovers, it may be a wise idea for you to stay here Miss Chase so when he comes around he sees a friendly face and you can make sure he has a drink when he does"

Annabeth nodded and Mr Chiron looked at Luke

"As for you Luke, go and take a shower. I don't want any other students to know about this until we find out who is responsible"

"Yes Sir"

Mr Chiron and the nurse left whilst Luke glanced over at Annabeth and their eyes met for a split second before she turned to Percy and stroked his hair.

"I'm sorry Annabeth"

"Just go" she said weakly with her eyes focused on Percy's closed eyelids and with that she heard Luke shut the door.

She looked down at Percy's face and stroked his cheek "I'm so sorry Percy" She wiped the tears from her cheek, she wasn't someone who cried a lot but in the last week she had cried more than she had her entire life. That made her chuckle and as she looked down at Percy she realised that she really did like him and she never wanted to see him in this situation again. It didn't matter to her that he had said Rachel's name because she was sure of her feelings for him and nothing would change that. She pulled a chair over to the side of the bed and sat down as he stirred in the bed and rolled over.

"Annabeth? Annabeth what happened? Why am I here?"

Annabeth sat up and grabbed his hand and tried to reassure him in a calm manner "Percy calm down, we're in the medical room"

His eyes scanned the room and nodded when he recognised it as the medical room, she squeezed his hand and he squeezed back which made her smile, she told him to sit up and she handed him a drink

"I'm just going to get the nurse ok?"

Percy nodded and she disappeared and within a couple of minutes Annabeth reappeared with the nurse.

"I'm just going to monitor your blood pressure"

He gladly held his arm out but held his gaze on Annabeth, she gave him a reassuring smile.

"Can you remember anything Percy?" The nurse asked

He shook his head "All I remember is feeling really cold"

The nurse nodded "Its ok, it's normal to not remember, it might come back to you and if it does I want you to tell me"

Percy nodded and the nurse turned to Annabeth, "You should probably go and get something to eat"

Annabeth's eyes went from the nurses to Percy's and back to the nurses,

"Yes you can eat it here, it might be a good idea to bring him a little something aswell"

Annabeth nodded "Anything in particular Pers?"

He shrugged "I'm not picky" he smiled,

"Ok I'll be back soon"

Annabeth quickly grabbed a handful of foods and shoved it onto the tray, she turned and was on her way back to the medical room when she was stopped in the corridor by a voice that sent a shiver down her spine

"Annabeth" he called out

She felt the warmth of him behind her so she turned around to see the one person she currently did not want to see

"Luke I have to go" she said

"I just wanted to apologise about, well everything that's happened today" he sighed "I also wanted to thank you for lying for me"

"I made a promise Luke, I don't break my promises"

"And I am going to make you a promise that I am going to try my hardest to keep, I promise that I will make it up to you, Annabeth Chase. Everyday of my life if I have to"

Luke gave her a sympathetic smile and vanished into the canteen and Annabeth returned to Percy in the medical room.

"You ok?" He asked as she sat on the bed and handed him a slice of pizza,

"Yeah just... lost in thought" she smiled.

Percy nodded and chomped down his food and Annabeth plucked up the courage to ask the question she dreaded the answer to, "Do you want me to get Rachel?"

Percy stayed silent and after he finished his mouthful responded "No"

Annabeth was surprised but relieved at the same time

He continued to say "I don't want to worry her and I think I'm in safe hands here"

She smiled and they ate the rest of the food.


	16. Chapter 16 Questions

It reached 10:45pm, Annabeth and Percy were staring at the clock, they both knew what had to come next.

"I guess I better go.." She stated sadly, she didn't want to leave. Her and Percy were having a great time, being in here they had forgotten about the idea of reality and it was like they were the only 2 people in the world.

"Do you have to? I mean can't we fake an injury for you or something?" He asked and Annabeth sensed the seriousness in his voice, she had to admit she was tempted but knew they would get into more trouble than it was worth

"You know we can't Percy"

He sighed "I know, I just... I don't want you to go yet"

She smiled, instinct took over and she kissed him on the cheek. She immediately stood up, embarrassed after realising what she had just done

"I'll err visit you first thing in the morning"

Percy struggled to respond so instead nodded but as Annabeth was about to walk out, she heard him call out

"I look forward to it"

She smiled to herself and shut the door.

* * *

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" An angry Piper in her bright pink pjs cornered Annabeth as soon as she stepped into the room

"NO TEXT, NO NOTE, NOTHING!"

Annabeth held her arms straight out in front of her as if to keep Piper from coming any closer "Piper relax ok, I can explain, just breathe"

Piper huffed, folded her arms and pushed her hip out to the side and waited for Annabeth to explain

"I was with Percy"

Piper opened her mouth to interrupt but Annabeth carried on talking "He was high when I found him, he wasn't in a good way so I took him to the nurse and they wanted me to stay with him for a while"

She wanted to tell Piper the whole truth but knowing Luke's history with Thalia and the way Piper had reacted that morning when she realised Percy was going to punch him made her stop. She knew Piper would go nuts if she found out it was Luke that got Percy high, she would probably try and get him expelled. Piper was also likely to try and murder him in the process.

No, Annabeth couldn't allow that to happen, she did make a promise after all.

"Is he alright? Does Rachel know?" Piper asked

"He's fine now but they want to keep him under observation for 24 hours. No one else knows Piper, I shouldn't have even told you so you can't tell anyone- not even Jason"

"Who gave him the drugs? Because I know Percy, that's not his style"

Annabeth was silent which turned out to be a mistake

"You know don't you? Stop protecting them and tell me"

Annabeth pushed past Piper "I promised Percy I would visit him first thing so I'm going to get some sleep"

She made her way over to the bottom of her bed to find Piper now standing in front of her,

"Tell me who did it" Piper demanded whilst gritting her teeth, her face showing a rage that Annabeth never expected to see

"Piper-" Annabeth was speaking gently when she was interrupted

"THIS IS MY BEST FRIEND WE'RE TALKING ABOUT! " Piper screamed at her

"I DON'T KNOW PIPER!"" Annabeth snapped and resorted to screaming as well "I DIDN'T SEE! I WASN'T THERE! I. Don't. Know." Annabeth spoke forcefully and blunt

Piper wanted to say something but she bit her lip before opening her mouth again "I'm sorry" she sighed "I guess... I just... I have no idea what I'm trying to say here" she let out a faint smile and talked in her usual calm tone

"What I want to say is that I believe you. I do. It's just I feel like you're holding something back and when bad things happen to my friends, I want answers."

Annabeth nodded, she hated that she had to lie to Piper but it was for the best "Piper I swear if I knew anymore I would tell you. It hurts me not knowing who did this to him just as much as it hurts you".

This seemed to reassure Piper as she wiped the tears forming in her eyes and decided that she was being silly and of course Annabeth would tell her. They decided to call it a night and they both went to sleep. It took a while for Annabeth to drift off, her mind was in over drive thinking about the events that had happened the last few days but when she finally did fall asleep Annabeth wasn't dreaming about the guy she had feelings for, she dreamt about that the guy she wanted to throttle- Luke.

* * *

When Annabeth woke up she was a little confused as to why she was dreaming about Luke but she pushed that to the back of her mind and immediately got dressed, careful not to disturb Piper who was still fast asleep and left to go see Percy.

She walked straight into the medical room which she now noticed was actually quite big, there were half a dozen beds on either side with a bedside cabinet next to each one.

How had she not noticed how big it was?

She put it down to her focus on Percy, she had blocked everything else out.

Talking of Percy, he was still fast asleep. She walked over and sat in the chair beside him and watched him peacefully until he woke up an hour later.

He turned over and half opened his eye lids to see Annabeth, he blinked twice with confusion written all over his face.

"You drool when you sleep"

He pushed himself up so he was leaning on his pillow against the wall and quickly wiped his mouth with his sleeve and muttered to himself where as Annabeth couldn't resist a chuckle.

He gave her his best innocent smile "Sorry about that"

She smirked and then it faded into a serious face "Did you sleep ok?" She asked

"These beds are a lot comfier than they look" he grinned

"That didn't answer my question"

He sighed "Can't get anything past you can I?" He gave a light smile and Annabeth could see the tiredness in his eyes, he looked down at his bed sheets

"It took me a while to get to sleep too" she admitted

He looked up and their eyes met, she could see the flames that used to dance in his pupil had been washed out and replaced by smoke. Percy smiled at her gratefully and swiftly changed the subject

"So have I got to spend the whole day in here by myself?"

Annabeth almost laughed at his attempt at puppy eyes "Believe me I would rather stay in here with you, I've got to deal with the others all asking questions"

"So stay" he whispered and grabbed her hand, she felt a tugging sensation in her gut telling her to stay with him, she felt all warm inside and just like last night, she felt like she had escaped reality. But the sound of footsteps soon brought her back and Percy let go off her hand and adjusted his seating position.

"I thought I could hear you" she smiled

"How'd you know it was me Eve?" He asked grinning as if he already knew the answer

"You spent everyday here when you were 12 and then you continued to come here for the last few years to escape the lessons you don't like. I think I can recognise your voice. Sometimes I even hear it in my nightmares"

"I think you mean dreams" he smirked

The nurse who was apparently called Eve asked Percy if she could check his temperate and monitor his blood. He obliged all whilst smiling until she stuck a needle in his arm when he yelped in pain

"Oops did I forget to say I needed some blood?" Eve pulled the needle out and Percy rubbed his arm

"That was a cheap shot" he moaned

Eve winked at Annabeth and they laughed at him

"Come on Eve, I'm feeling great, let me outta here" he pleaded

"Percy I told you last night, you can't leave here until 5pm"

He groaned and threw his head back against the pillow.

Annabeth looked at her watch, shit, she should go back to the room so her and Piper could get breakfast together, it would be less suspicious.

"I've got to go Percy, I'll try and catch you later"

She hesitated for a second, unsure whether to hug him or just to wave goodbye. After seeing his pleading eyes and Eve's cunning smile she opted to wave goodbye and quickly left.

At breakfast the group queried her whereabouts, fortunately Annabeth and Piper had come up with a lie; she went to the library after History and studied for a few hours, by the time she realised she didn't have any tea she wasn't hungry and went straight to bed. Leo seemed to be the only one who didn't believe it, Annabeth could have sworn he rolled his eyes and shook his head a little.

"Did you see Percy? He wasn't at tea either" Rachel asked suspiciously

Annabeth shook her head "No I don't remember seeing him, he left pretty quickly after History"

Liar she thought. I am a complete an utter liar. At least I can try out as an actress if being an architect didn't work out.

The group settled down and started eating, Annabeth studied them individually. When Luke had told her the other night how they had all treated him, she was prepared to hate them but after seeing how he treated Percy yesterday, she wasn't so sure he had told her the truth. Yes Percy may have punched him but that didn't mean he deserved to be drugged.

She was swirling her Cheerios around the bowl, she was thinking too much to be able to eat. Rachel who was sat opposite was the only who noticed.

"You must be starving after not having any tea last night"

Annabeth knew it was a statement and not a question but she got the feeling that Rachel was questioning why she wasn't shovelling it down,

"You'd think so" Annabeth smiled and stood up and everyone except for Leo, who continued to eat, looked up at her,

"Excuse me" she announced gently and swiftly left the table without glancing back.

It was a Saturday so she didn't have any lessons, she went up to her room and got changed into a running outfit. She needed to get away from it all for a while and just clear her head. She was just tying her laces up when Leo entered the room, Annabeth looked up but didn't acknowledge him, he hadn't looked at her all morning.

"Why?" Leo asked

"Why what?" She asked bluntly turning her attention back to her laces

When he didn't answer she looked over to see him stood there with his eyebrows narrowed, Annabeth stood up and rolled her eyes at him

"I'm going for a run"

She grabbed her iPod and plugged her headphones into her ears and cranked up the volume as loud as possible so she could drain everything out. She turned to leave and saw Leo step to the side to get out of her way. She walked past without saying another word.


	17. Chapter 17 Hurting

**Just want to say** **a huge thank you for all the reviews, the messages, favourites and follows. B** **asically thank you for the continued support. Enjoy the chapter ️**

* * *

As Annabeth approached her room she unplugged her headphones with the music still blasting out. A boy about her age walked past and muttered that she must be deaf, she turned around and told him to fuck off, he continued to walk in the opposite direction grumbling to himself.

She stepped through the door and saw a small towel had been placed on her bed, Annabeth picked it up and covered her face in it. The sweat that had formed on her face from running disappeared and she felt a lot better.

Annabeth heard her phone 'ping' and she stretched out on her bed to grab it from her bedside cabinet. It was from Leo, she scrolled up to find 4 unread messages from him

 _Let me know when you're back_ \- **10:10**

 _We need to talk_ \- **10:40**

 _I put a towel on your bed_ \- **11:20**

The latest one read _Are you seriously not back yet?_ **12:45**

She lazily replied _Now back, thanks for the towel. Where do you want to talk?_

Moments after hitting the send button she got a reply,

 _Come to mine and Percy's, less chance of us getting interrupted or overheard - room 394._

Annabethquickly got changed into a pair of navy jeans with a dark green vest top and head straight over to the boys corridor.

She knocked on the door and Leo let her in, the layout was the same as the girls; 2 beds, bed side cabinets and a wardrobe each. Leo closed the door and Annabeth turned to face him

"What do you want to talk about then Leo?" She asked with her arms crossed,

"Why are you still friends with him?" He demanded

"With who?"

"Luke! I warned you about him, said he was trouble and even after what he did to Percy you're still friendly with him"

"What he did to Percy?" She questioned innocently although she had a feeling she knew what he was talking about

"Don't pretend like you don't know- he drugged Percy yesterday"

Annabeth remained silent and allowed Leo to continue to talk

"Mr Chiron told me everything, said Percy had been drugged so he would be staying in the medical room overnight and that he was concerned. I knew something was up because Percy doesn't do drugs, it's not his style. Mr Chiron said you and Luke had found him and that was when I knew that Luke was the one to blame, after their fight yesterday morning there is no way in hell that Luke would have been willing to help Percy. I asked Mr Chiron if I could see him but he assured me that he was being taken care of and that you were with him. When I saw you and Luke talking outside the canteen" he shook his head "It looked like you helped Luke drug him"

Annabeth spoke with a mixture of rage and hurt, "Leo I would never do that! I would never drug anyone. As for Luke, I gave him a chance and yeah he blew it yesterday which is what you saw me telling him but I make my own decisions about people I do not need someone telling me who I can and can't be friends with"

"That's not what I was trying to do, I was warning you because I don't want you to get in trouble because of him." He argued

"Well don't. You don't have to do that"

"Yes I do because that's what friends do! Friends have each other's back"

"Well you don't have mine because you wouldn't have jumped to conclusions about me. That hurt Leo, to know that you think I would do something like that"

Leo tried to plead guilty but Annabeth wasn't listening, she turned and left the room just like she did only hours earlier, slamming the door shut.

* * *

Annabeth went to the library, her head was all over the place, she understood what Leo was getting at but that didn't mean she agreed or liked it. She needed to distract herself and what better way to do that than to stick her head in a good book. Annabeth got so caught up in her book _**'Facts about the world**_ ' that she lost track of time so when she glanced at her phone and realised, she immediately left. Annabeth went to the room but found it empty so left to go to the dinner at the canteen. She found Piper at the back of the queue and walked over

"Hey Pipes" she delivered with a smile

"Oh you are alive" Piper remarked

"Please Piper not today, it's already been shit I don't need any more grief"

"Fine... I'll give it to you tomorrow instead"

"Deal"

They grinned at each other, grabbed their food and head over to a table.

"How's Percy doing?" Piper asked as they sat down

Annabeth gasped, "shit... I don't know" she had completely forgotten to go and see him.

Just then he walked in, hands in hands with Rachel. Annabeth looked down at her food, she couldn't bare to look at them together and the guilt of forgetting to see him washed over her.

Leo walked in behind them with Jason and again she felt guilty. The group got their food and came and sat at the table, Jason sat next to Piper (obviously) with Leo sitting the other side of him. Rachel and Percy were sat opposite Leo leaving Annabeth sitting by herself. Everyone seemed to be having conversations without her; Percy, Rachel and Leo were reminiscing about something that happened last year whilst Jason and Piper were discussing their plans for the evening. At one point Annabeth openly asked where Frank and Hazel were but she got ignored. Annabeth felt incredibly intimidated so quietly finished her tea without glancing up.

Like she had once before, Annabeth quietly escaped the group and started walking back to her room. She was about to walk up the stairs when she got a tap on the shoulder, she spun around to see Luke standing with his hands behind his back.

"Hi"

"Luke I really don't want to-"

He pulled flowers from behind his back, Annabeh studied them and could see pink Oriental lilies, pink large-headed roses, cerise germinis and pink lisianthus. They were beautiful. Luke handed them over to her

"I know it doesn't make up for what I did and I'm not going to expect you to forgive me just because I brought you flowers. But... it's a start and I hope it proves to you that I meant what I said, I am going to try and make it up to you everyday."

She sniffed the flowers, they smelt wonderful. She looked up from the flowers to see him still standing there,

"Thank you Luke"

He grinned "You're welcome". He shoved his hand in front pockets and started to walk away, whistling to himself. Annabeth sniffed the flowers once more and watched him walk away another few steps before shouting to him

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

He spun on his heels and gave a cheeky grin "I'd love to" he stated as he started walking back towards her,

"Great, just let me go put these in my room"

He nodded and she ran up the stairs taking them two at a time.

When she came back down she saw him waiting at the bottoms of the stairs.

"Where we going then?" He asked as he stood up and brushed himself down,

"Let's see where the night take us"

He smiled and offered his arm which she gladly slipped hers through and they strolled through the corridor and made their way outside.

"So is there something you want to talk about or?" Luke casually asked

"No I just needed a walk and wanted some company"

"And you chose me as your company? I feel honoured" he put his spare hand across his heart

Annabeth slapped him on the chest with her spare hand and they laughed together.

"Don't make it so hard for me to be mad at you"

Luke smirked "Sorry I'll go back to being an arsehole"

"That would be appreciated"

The rest of their walk consisted of similar jokes and silence but it was a comfortable silence. Annabeth spent that time looking at the stars where she tried to ignore the warm feeling she had being here with Luke and pretended she didn't notice how Luke kept sneaking glances at her.


	18. Chapter 18 October

**Sorry I haven't been able to upload quicker but it's here now!**

 **In response to one of the reviews, I was going to add those characters later on but I have added them into this one just for you ;P**

 **p.s sorry for the time jump but I realised I had done 17 chapters for the first week and I have a lot planned so I decided I needed to speed things along :)**

 **Enjoy and please feel free to let me know what you think!**

* * *

It was now the middle of October and Percy was still avoiding Annabeth. In history lessons he would only speak to Grover and sometimes not even him. At first it bothered Annabeth that he could just ignore her like that but she was eventually able to cope with it. Once the lesson finished he was the first out of the door whilst Annabeth would often stroll out laughing with Luke and Silena.

"What do you thinks wrong with Percy?" Silena asked one day on their way out

"I have no idea" Annabeth responded, she thought she was lying but when she actually thought about it, she really didn't know why he was acting like this

"He's distant and off. I've never known him to be like this. He's always trying to find a way to annoy Mr D and it's usually impossible to shut him up"

"Maybe he's on his man period" Luke suggested, Annabeth gave him a discreet sharp elbow in the stomach

Silena shook her head "Ever since you boys didn't show up for class last month he's acted... Weird. Did he say anything when you found him Annabeth?"

"No. Maybe it's got something to do with Rachel?"

"Maybe" Silena didn't sound convinced "I'll see you guys later anyway" she said as she walked down the corridor

"See ya" Luke and Annabeth replied at the same time.

Luke turned to Annabeth and leaned against the wall "So you eating me with today or them?"

"Depends, you buying?"

Luke laughed and his head fell to the floor but when he lifted it back up, his eyes were glistening and he produced a smoulder. Annabeth couldn't resist.

"Just let me text Piper"

 _Hey Pipes, gonna be in the library for lunch again. See you later_

She responded immediately

 _You need to get your head out of those book Chase, the gang misses you :(_

It had become a regular occurrence for Annabeth to 'be in the library'. Since that first week she had slowly drifted away from the group what with Percy and Leo still ignoring her. Piper was too caught up in Jason for Annabeth to have a conversation with, which left her to talk to Rachel, Hazel and Frank. She had nothing against Frank and Hazel but talking to Rachel made her uncomfortable, although Rachel and her hadn't actually said the words there was a mutual feeling of jealousy. Both girls were competing for Percy's affections after all and they both knew it. Given the current situation, Rachel was winning.

This led to Annabeth and Luke spending more time together, they hung out with Luke's friends; Nico D'Angelo, the Stoll brothers, Katie Gardner and Kelli Hecusa. She knew Piper would hate her if she found out the truth, not to mention what Leo would do.

Annabeth quickly tapped a reply on her phone

 _Maybe tomorrow, miss them too x_

* * *

"Finally Luth has arrived" Connor shouted as Annabeth and Luke approached, how he could see through that mop of curly brown hair that hung in the way of his blue eyes, was a mystery to Annabeth. The group ate their lunch the other side of the school, away from everyone else.

"Luth?" Annabeth asked as they sat on the broken bench, Nico had tried to fix it once but that only made it worse

Kelli rolled her deep chocolate eyes and it sounded like she forced the words out of her mouth

"It mans Luke and Annabeth. Him and Travis have been trying to come up with a name for days"

"And that's what you decided to stick with?" Annabeth asked with one eyebrow raised

"Would you prefer Annake or Lukeabeth?" Travis replied

"Or it could be Conabeth" Connor winked

Katie smacked him over the head and Annabeth couldn't help but laugh as he let out an "Ow" and rubbed his head.

She remembered a similar incident when she had first joined when Hazel had smacked Leo round the head. A smile crept across her face as she remembered it. Gods she missed Leo, he was the only one out of the group who truly understand what she was going through with Percy. Annabeth hated to admit it and Piper would murder her if she knew but Leo had become her best friend. She felt a sense of dread as she knew she had to make it right with him and it was going to be totally humiliating that she had to apologise to Leo but she was prepared to swallow her pride to make it right if it meant they could be friends again.

Annabeth noticed a warm touch on her lower back and she realised Luke had placed his hand there and was looking at her with concerned eyes

"You ok?"

Annabeth felt a lump in her throat but managed to get her words out

"Yeah just remembered I needed to do something"

"Oh ok, do you want me to come with you?" He questioned

"She's a big girl Luke, I'm sure she can manage by herself" Kelli twirled her finger in her long brown hair.

Annabeth nodded and smiled at him "It shouldn't take long anyway".

She got up from her seat and picked her pace up as she got further away from the group, she hurriedly walked past Nico who was travelling in the opposite direction but she did manage to shout a hello to him.

* * *

As Annabeth made her way through the canteen and patio she could hear the group all laugh together. She took cover behind the wall and popped her head rounder the corner to see them all indulged in one conversation. Leo was telling the story using his hands to explain things whilst Piper leaned on Jason's shoulder but her eyes remained on Leo's. Jason had a massive grin on his face as he listened to the story. Hazel was sat next to Piper and her hand was joined together on the table with Franks with his thumb stroking the top of her hand- Annabeh had heard they had now made it official. Her eyes then made her way opposite them to Percy whose back was facing her and she could see his hand was placed onto Rachel's lower left hip pulled her closer to him. Annabeth felt uneasy and wanted to look elsewhere but her eyes were transfixed on his hand.

She took a deep breathe and approached them.

"Hey guys" she said and instantly she felt the mood change. Percy grabbed his drink with his right hand and removed his left hand from Rachel's waist and instead their hands were intertwined on the table. Annabeth pretended not to notice that twist she had just felt in her stomach. Leo stopped explaining his story and kept his eyes on the empty plate infront of him. Frank and Hazel smiled at her, Annabeth nodded towards their hands

"Congratulations"

"Thanks" they stated in unison which promoted them to look at one another and smile like idiots.

Piper removed her head from Jason's shoulder and looked at Annabeth,

"I thought you were in the library?"

"I was but like you said, got to get my head out of those book right?" She grimaced and Piper smirked

"Actually I needed to talk to Leo quickly" Annabeth admitted,

The whole table looked at Leo and she could see that he was trying to work out an excuse but he didn't instead he quietly stood up and promoted Annabeth to follow him around the corner.

Leo opened his mouth to say something but Annabeth beat him to it,

"I'm sorry" she stated "I'm sorry for everything I said to you, you were only looking out for me and I couldn't see that at the time."

He remained quiet so Annabeth took another deep breathe before speaking again

"You were my best friend and I'm sorry it took me until now to realise that but I would really like it if we could at least be friends again. I understand if you don't want to be best friends but I need you Leo, I need your help because I think I'm in way over my head and you're the only one who understands"

"You're still friendly with Luke aren't you?" He questioned, Annabeth reluctantly nodded.

Leo put on a thoughtful face before finally deciding what to say "Well luckily for you, your BFF Leo is here to help-" he suddenly turned serious "-talk to Percy"

"Talk to Percy? That's your advice"

"I think you and Percy still need a discussion, you do still like him right?"

"Of course I still like him, just because he's ignoring me doesn't mean that my feelings have changed. He always says he's confused and that he needs more time" Annabeth confessed

"Then you need to do something to make him realise what he's going to lose if he takes any longer to decide"

Annabeth didn't like what Leo had to say but she wasn't going to argue with him, she had just got her best friend back, she wasn't about to lose him again.

"I'll talk to him after tea"

"Good girl, now come and enjoy the rest of lunch with us"

Annabeth smiled as Leo took her hand and guided her to the bench where she enjoyed the rest of lunch with the gang.


	19. Chapter 19 Complications

**To Raelauren; Leo certainly is the best!**

 **To guests; Thank you!**

 **I'm glad you love the story**

 **I tend to update every 4/5 days- I like to re read it to see if I can improve it!**

 **Enjoy the chapter and try not to be to mad at me for the ending** ㈴7㈴7

* * *

"You need to get your act together" Silena said as Annabeth slid into the seat next to her for their Psychology lesson,

"I'm 2 minutes late"

"Not what I meant dimwit"

Annabeth ignored the dimwit comment and turned her head at Silena

"What did you mean then?"

Sirena opened her mouth to speak when the teacher started talking, Silena held her finger up at Annabeth indicating that she would explain in a minute.

Once the teacher started talking off topic, Silena whispered to Annabeth

"I was talking about the boys"

Annabeth could feel the colour in her face fade away, how did Silena know? Was it really that obvious?

"Luke and Percy?" Annabeth queried

Silena nodded, "I've seen how they behave when they like a girl, this is so much bigger. I've never known either of them to behave for anyone like they way they are behaving over you"

Annabeth was taken back by that comment and Silena continued to explain,

"You've changed Luke, he's happy. And I don't mean that in a cheesy way but even when everything was good between him and Thalia, I don't think he was ever this happy. He is trying to prove to himself and everyone around him that he has changed and that's because of you. You've inspired him to become a better person"

Annabeth couldn't help but smile and feel a little warm inside.

"And what about Percy?" She asked nervously

Silena smirked "The way he looks at you" she imitated him by dropping her head to the side and Annabeth couldn't help but compare it to the way Aladdin reacted when he described Jasmine to Genie.

Annabeth scrunched her face up in annoyance "He doesn't look at me, he's been ignoring me"

Silena sighed "I can promise you that he does look at you but it's the way he looks at you that's important. I can see his eyes fill with awe when he sees you and it's like he doesn't see another girl in room. It's when you're not looking, that he is."Silena paused "It's funny isn't it, how one person can affect two people so differently"

The psychology teacher called for their attention, Silena and Annabeth didn't get the chance to speak about the boys again but Annabeth couldn't help but think about what Silena had said, she really did need to get her act together.

* * *

After the lesson had finished, Annabeth quickly went over to Percy and Leo's room and knocked on the door. Percy answered and went to shut it again when he realised it was Annabeth but she stuck her foot in the way and forced her way in. She saw that he had been reading, his history book still left open on his bed.

"You can't ignore me forever Percy"

He stayed silent at the other end of the room, she dropped her stuff by the side of his bed, turned to face him and spoke gently "Talk to me"

Again he remained quiet so this time Annabeth folded her arms and spoke more forcefully "Talk to me"

"I can't" he pleaded "Don't you get it? I can't talk to you because it hurts, it hurts to know that you chose Luke over me"

"Chose Luke over you? What are you talking about?" She asked confused,,

"My memory of that night came back, Luke gave me the drug but you already knew that because you covered for him." He spoke lacking emotion, Annabeth went to interrupt but he wouldn't let her "The next day you didn't visit me, why?"

"I forgot" she said quietly, forcing herself to push away the flood of guilt

"You were too busy with Luke whilst my girlfriend was worried out of her mind and you didn't have the curtesy to tell her where I was"

"I asked if you wanted me to get Rachel and you said no! And FYI I didn't see Luke until that evening after you walked into the canteen holding hands with your girlfriend so don't you dare say that I was too busy because you seemed to get over that pretty quick" she argued, her whole body had stiffened with anger and she could see that his had aswell. They both took a few deep breathes and let their bodies relax before Percy looked up from the floor

"If you came over to yell at me then we're done so you can leave now"

She sighed "That's not what I came here for"

"Then why are you here?" He questioned

"Because you need to decide! I'm not going to sit around and wait for you anymore. You need to make a decision right now, me or Rachel?" She demanded

"You know it's not that simple"

Annabeth remembered what Leo had told her 'you need to do something to make him realise what he's going to lose if he takes any longer to decide' and she wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline pumping through her body that made her so confident or the thought of losing him but before she lost her confidence she strode up to Percy and stood right infront of him

"Then maybe this will help your decision"

Annabeth leant up on her tip toes, wrapped her arms around his neck, tilted her head to the side and planted her lips onto his. After a few moments she felt his hands go onto her lower back and pull her closer, he was kissing her back softly. Their slow pace then became more passionate, gradually the intensity of the kiss built up from the pressure of their lips. She could feel her heart working overtime and she could feel his doing the same as she placed her hand on his chest. Annabeth released a small moan as Percy gently kissed his way from her lips to her neck.

There was a knock on the door and they quickly parted.

Jason entered the room just as Annabeth managed to quickly grab her stuff,

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" He queried as his eyes widened to see Annabeth a little flustered " I can come back"

"No no, I just came to talk to Percy about some history work. I was just about to leave anyway" she answered. Annabeth looked at Percy as she made her way towards the door, his eyes were begging her to stay but she knew she had to go. As she walked past Jason he looked apologetic like he knew he had interrupted something more important than history work but Annabeth simply smiled at him.

"I'll catch you later" she called out, not directing it at either one of the boys.

* * *

Annabeth decided to sit outside on one of the benches and do some reading to take her mind off what had just happened. She was about to turn the page of her book when Luke approached her,

"Are you ok?" He asked with a concern before sliding in next to her

"I'm fine, what about you?"

"Are you sure? You disappeared in a hurry this morning, if I've done anything wrong I want you to tell me so I can fix it"

She closed her book and swung her leg round so she had a leg either side of the bench,

"You have done nothing wrong" she promised, "I just had something I needed to sort out"

"And that's all sorted now?" He wondered

She nodded, fearing that if she actually spoke then she would reveal the truth but the worry didn't disappear from his face, he looked agitated and nervous. His leg was bobbing up and down so Annabeth placed a hand on his knee and he stopped,

"Luke what's wrong?" She asked, this time it was her voice full of concern.

He looked into her eyes and she could see that he had been bottling this up for a while

"Luke whatever it is I can handle it and I will still be your friend"

He smiled before hesitantly speaking

"I've really enjoyed getting to know you and I feel so comfortable around you...You're the only person I really trust and I don't think I've felt this happy in a long time"

"Luke-"

She was interrupted by him placing his hand on the back of her head and locking their lips together. At first she resisted but she felt herself melt into the kiss and it wasn't long until she was kissing him back. He was a really good kisser. She felt her stomach do a summersault and eventually she pulled away to see a smug Kelli standing at the patio whilst a boy with raven black hair turned and stormed back inside.


	20. Chapter 20 Decisions

"Thanks Luke that was great. Really great. Let's talk about this later" Annabeth told him as she quickly grabbed her belongings and hurried off to the patio before hearing his response.

"Thanks" Annabeth muttered to Kelli as she tried to walk past but Kelli had grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Listen" she said in a stern voice "If you play with fire someone's bound to get burned, I'm just making sure it's not MY friend"

Annabeth looked over her shoulder to see that Luke had buried his head in his hands on the bench top. She felt guilty leaving so hastily but Annabeth knew she needed to go after Percy. Annabeth yanked her arm free from Kelli's grip and ran in the same direction that Percy had gone.

* * *

Annabeth ran through the canteen and stopped outside in the hallway to look down the corridors to see if she could see that raven black hair. Her heart was practically beating out of her chest, she was worried that they wouldn't be able to sort this. She spotted him just about to go round the corner so she chased after him and pushed him into a classroom. Luckily it was empty.

"Percy I can explain" she said as she shut the door

"Oh I'd love to hear this." He said as he walked to the opposite side of the classroom, Annabeth opened her mouth to speak when he turned around,

"Let me guess, he started choking and you had to shove your tongue down his throat to save him?" He stated sarcastically, Annabeth remained silent

"No? Maybe you thought it was the end of the world and you had to kiss him in case you didn't survive" he exclaimed

"If it was the end of the world, I would have kissed you" she argued back

"But you did kiss me Annabeth! Then 10 minutes later I come outside to find you snogging my cousin"

"I didn't plan to! Same as I didn't plan to kiss you - it was impulsive"

"So you kissed me and then felt the need to go and kiss someone else? Thanks, that makes me feel real special" he rolled his eyes at his statement

Annabeth sighed "That's not what I meant"

"Then what did you mean?" He demanded

"I felt an urgency to kiss you otherwise I might have lost you but with Luke it was purely a reaction. I didn't know what to do so I just kissed him back"

"Do you have any idea how betrayed I feel right now?" His voice breaking with every word

"You have got to be kidding me. You're the one in a relationship!" Annabeth practically screamed at him

"I wasn't going to be, at least not with Rachel" he confessed, his voice softened "After we kissed I realised that I needed to end things with her, I was actually on my way to talk to her"

Annabeth's heart was singing, she had won him over, they finally would be together.

"But?" She sensed a but and was already confident that it was because of Kelli that he didn't get to Rachel.

"But Kelli caught me and said that Luke has changed and that I should talk to him, I trusted her judgement as she is his longest friend so I followed her outside and that's where we saw..." Percy trailed off and Annabeth could hear the pain in his voice. She felt an urge to collapse onto the floor knowing that she was the cause of it.

"Percy" she strained but she couldn't think of anything else to say

He acknowledged her by nodding but didn't say a word.

"So what happens now?" She questioned nervously

"I don't know" Percy admitted

* * *

10 minutes had passed since they last said anything, Percy was now slouched up against the wall fiddling around with the display boards whilst Annabeth had took a seat at one of the desks but moved her chair so she could watch him.

"Do you like Luke?" He asked with his back facing Annabeth

"Excuse me?"

Percy turned around and looked at her "Just be up front with me for a second would ya? Do you like Luke?"

Annabeth thought about this for a second "I suppose a part of me does, a very small part though" she answered honestly

"And the... kiss?"

"What about it?"

"How do you feel about it?"

She thought back to the kiss, she remembered her stomach flipping over and over again. She remembered not expecting to like it and then melting into it. She shook the memory away- it shouldn't be like this, she wanted to be with Percy.

"I don't want Luke. I want you"

He smirked and she couldn't figure out why but then it was like he read her mind and answered her thoughts,

"That wasn't an answer." He shook his head and his tone of voice changed to a serious one

"So here's what we're going to do, we're going to pretend our kiss didn't happen"

And just like that, Annabeth's heart shattered and her eyes turned into a waterfall,

Percy continued to speak, lacking any sense of emotion

"I feel like you keep choosing Luke over me and part of me loves Rachel. I know she would never do something like this to betray me and I realise now that I've made a mistake in thinking about throwing what me and Rachel have for us"

He uses his finger to point back and forth between him and Annabeth

"I am going to make it up to her and focus my attention on her and in order to do that I have to forget about us. You should do the same so you can be with Luke"

Annabeth tried to talk, to say that's not what she wants and that she was here with him rather than with Luke but no words came out, only tears.

"We just aren't meant to be. Maybe our story isn't about how we defeat all obstacle and end up together, maybe our story is how we overcome temptations and become great friends" Percy suggested

Annabeh froze 'we just aren't meant to be' kept ringing in her ears, after a few minutes to digest what Percy had said, she picked up her stuff and ran out of the classroom without looking back.

* * *

Annabeth collapsed onto her bed once she reached her room and sobbed. As soon as Piper entered she rushed to Annabeth's side and tried to comfort her but it didn't help.

"I...just...want to be...alone...please...Pipes" Annabeth managed to ask through sobs

Piper nodded and gave Annabeth a light peck on the forehead and left her alone.

Leo was the next person to enter the room and went and sat on the side of her bed. He told her that Piper had sent him so Annabeth forced herself to sit up and started beating her fists on his chest,

"Why did I listen to you? You and your stupid advice" she shouted

He caught her wrists and forced them to the bed and then pulled her in for a tight hug. He placed his hand on the back of head and stroked her hair whilst she rested her head on his shoulder, her arms tightly wrapped around him and continued to sob. Leo kept reassuring her that everything would be ok in the end but Annabeth couldn't see how that was possible.

* * *

A few hours passed by, Leo and Annabeth were now laying her on bed, her head rested on his chest and his arm rested on her back, she had finally stopped crying.

"Come on let's go get something to eat" Leo sat up and looked at Annabeth

"I can't go down like this and let him see me"

"Don't be stupid Annabeth, we won't see him anyway"

"How do you know?" She asked

"I know Percy better than anyone, he won't even eat tonight"

Annabeth nodded and reluctantly took his hand and they walked downstairs to go and get something to eat.

* * *

 **I would have uploaded this last night but the rugby was on and that took priority- sorry!**

 **eggsmerelda; I am honestly fearing the safety of my life now.. Thanks... Even more after you've read this chapter...sorry!**

 **jennyrawr; I'm glad you're enjoying the story, sorry I update as soon as I can! Believe me if I updated this after the first draft you would have told me it was shit! Hahaha**

 **lgisawsome; Yay! It's such a nice feeling to know you're having as much fun reading it as I am writing it!**

 **raelauren; Aww poor Luke and Kelli ;) There's more of them to come :P**

 **I've got a poll on my profile page that you guys should participate in;** **Who do you think Annabeth will end up with?**

 **Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter!**

 **X**


	21. Chapter 21 The Repercussions

**PLEASE BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY THAT I DID NOT INTEND TO LEAVE YOU LIKE THAT FOR 6 DAYS**

 **I have a valid excuse but I think I can hear** ** _eggsmeralda_** **and** ** _BBfunny778_** **getting their pitchforks ready so** **on with the story ...** ** _._**

* * *

A week had passed since she had last spoken to him, actually for a matter of fact even seen him. Percy hadn't turned up to the history lessons, on the surface Annabeth was glad he wasn't attending because she couldn't handle seeing him but deep down the lessons weren't the same without him and although she would never admit it, she did feel like she was missing a part of herself.

No.

She couldn't think like that anymore. It was his choice and she needed to accept that and her mind had but her body and heart hadn't. She longed to see his sea green eyes, for his gentle touch, for his dashing smile, for him.

Leo had been very supportive, she didn't know what she did to deserve his kindness after the way she had treated him but she was thankful anyway. He was constantly checking up on her making sure she was eating properly and attempting to make her smile at least 3 times a day.

It was nice to know she still had a friend in Leo even if he was the only one from the group, apparently Kelli and Percy weren't the only ones to see the kiss between Luke and her, the gossip spread like wild fire and the group soon heard it.

* * *

* _flashback_ *

"What the hell were you thinking?" Piper shouted at Annabeth once they got back to their room

"I wasn't thinking, that's the point" Annabeth exclaimed

"It doesn't require much thinking to know you don't want to kiss someone and push them away" Piper remarked,

Annabeth knew she was right and felt little guilty as she knowingly kissed Luke back.

Piper let out a heavy sigh before releasing her thoughts,

"I had my suspicions about you two, that day when Percy punched him you wanted to stop Percy. At the time I thought it was so Percy wouldn't get into trouble but maybe it was so Luke wouldn't have got hurt"

"It wasn't like that" Annabeth insisted

"Sure seems like it now"

"Piper you've got to understand how confused I am about this, about everything " Annabeth pleaded frantically waving her hands in a circular motion as as she explained

"What's there to be confused about?" Piper argued "I'm assuming Percy or Leo told you what he did to Thalia? How can you even stand being around him" she spoke resentfully causing Annabeth to snap

"Because I wasn't here! I wasn't here when everything happened and as far as I'm concerned he hasn't shown any sign of the Luke you are desperately trying to convince me that he is"

Annabeth lied, she wasn't about to admit to Piper that Luke had forced Percy to drugs because 1, that was giving Piper more ammo to prove he's a bad guy and 2, since then he had been proving that he was a different guy and Silena even mentioned that she had noticed that he had changed.

"Regardless of what happens between Luke and I, I need you to still be my friend"

Annabeth could see that Piper was weighing out her choices and her face gave it away when Piper came to her decision.

"I can't do that. I can't be your friend if you're with him. There's too much history there and to me, he will always be that guy. I will be your civilised roommate but that's where I draw the line"

"If you're asking me to choose between you and Luke-"

"I'm not asking Annabeth, I'm warning you because it won't just be me you lose, it will be the whole group. Is he really worth it?"

* _flashback over_ *

* * *

Leo was snapping his fingers infront of Annbeths face in the library,

"Hellooooo did you hear me?" He asked

"You want me to come to the Halloween party" Annabeth answered unenthusiastically

"So you are listening but that doesn't sound like an answer"

"Leo the group still hate me"

"So? There's going to be the rest of the school there"

"What about...him?"

"Percy? Yeah he will be there but the chances of you speaking to him are like 1 in 500. Literally, there will be like 500 people there"

"Those were the odds at paintball but look what happened"

"Trust me Annabeth, you need to do something to take your mind off everything"

After looking at his puppy eyed face she reluctantly gave in, "I don't even have a costume"

"It's not until Saturday" Leo said reassuringly

"That's tomorrow"

"Oh shit yeah. I'll sort something out- don't worry"

"I wasn't worried" Annabeth muttered as she turned her attention back to the book.

"Ok well I'm going to go, you eating with the others today?" He asked as he stood up, his books already in his bag as he didn't get them out because he decided to annoy Annabeth rather than actually study.

"Yeah like I usually do" she stated, not glancing up from her page.

"Well invite them to come tomorrow"

That caught her attention and she looked up at him "Is Luke included in that invite?'

Leo hesitated and she could see that he wanted to say no but didn't know how to tell her,

"He won't even need a costume" Leo smirked

Annabeth sighed, "He's not a monster Leo"

"That's debatable"

"Leo"

"Just make sure the others don't realise so it can be a peaceful party"

"Won't I disrupt the peace?"

"They will just ignore you where as with Luke... they wouldn't hesitate to rip him apart"

"Sounds great" Annabeth rolled her eyes

"It will be! I'll catch you later" He waved goodbye and hurried off out the door.

Once Annabeth had finished her chapter she left to go eat her lunch.

* * *

"Absolutely not" Kelli said "I am not going to that stupid party"

They were sitting down at their bench again except for Nico, who was leaning up against the big oak tree to stay in the shade.

"On man! The pranks we could pull and get away with" Connor exclaimed

"It's like a holiday designed for us" Travis said excitedly

"Even more reason for us not to go" Kelli argued, gesturing at Connor and Travis

"It could be fun Kelli" Katie suggested

"Anything involving Stolls having fun is not my idea of fun"

"Don't be so boring Kelli" Connor yelled immaturely

"Yeah Kelli" Travis mimicked

"It was just a suggestion, we don't have to go" Annabeth insisted

"Thanks for your input Princess" Kelli said sarcastically.

"I'd quite like to go" Nico admitted, they all glanced over at him as he took a bite of his apple.

"Well that settles it, we're going" Luke announced as he walked over which was followed by cheers from the Stoll brothers.

"You don't even know what we're talking about" Kelli replied, the Stoll brothers stopped cheering with their arms frozen halfway in the air.

"The Halloween party. We're going"

The brothers carried on cheering and Katie smiled over at Nico who was still chomping his apple whilst a defeated Kelli stared at him in disbelief.

Luke slid in next to Annabeth and shot her a grin, she smiled back at him. They hadn't spoke about the kiss. In fact they hadn't even mentioned it, they had carried on like nothing had happened but Annabeth knew it couldn't continue like that. She decided there and then that she would talk to him about it at the Halloween party.

* * *

 **I'm sorry it's shorter than previous chapters but I just felt like I needed to give you guys an update- I promise the next one will be longer!**


	22. Chapter 22 Pre-Party

**Originally I planned to upload it on Tuesday but I wasn't happy with it so I postponed it to Wednesday but then I changed my mind about the whole chapter which is why you got it today instead ;P**

* * *

Annabeth woke up dreading the day ahead of her.

31st of October.

Halloween.

The day of the party.

In other words, it was going to be a disaster.

When she got up, she looked over at the empty bed. Piper must have already gone down for breakfast. At least her and Piper were on better terms than her and Percy but the only time they were ever in a room at the same time was when they were asleep. Annabeth would be lying if she said that her fallout with Piper didn't bother her but Annabeth still hadn't figured out how to make it right, where she didn't have to choose between her and Luke. Annabeth had never lost a friend like Piper before, sure her and Leo fell out for a while but they could have been friends again a lot sooner if it wasn't for the fact they were both too stubborn to admit they were out of line and that they needed each other.

Piper didn't need Annabeth. She had plenty of other people in her life.

Annabeth on the other hand didn't have another 'girl friend' as such; she had Silena but they only spoke in class. Kelli and her didn't get along brilliantly and Katie was nice but she wasn't Piper. Annabeth heavily sighed and quickly put on some navy jeans and a white t-shirt and went to get some breakfast.

* * *

When she returned to her room after breakfast, Annabeth found a note placed next to a large bag on her bed. She picked up the note to discover it said,

 _Told you I'd sort something_

 _L_

Annabeth smirked, of course Leo couldn't just hand it to her like a normal person. She opened the bag and could see a white polyester material, it wasn't until she pulled it out that she realised what costume he had got her. A bloody nurse. That little shit, she was going to get him back for this. To be more specific, Leo had opted to go with a zombie nurse outfit - even getting contacts, a wig and zombie face make-up.

Annabeth quickly tapped out a text message

 _A nurse outfit? Really Leo?_

He instantly replied

 _I know, it's bad. I'm sorry, that was all they had left! It was that or nothing!_

Annabeth let out a small groan before responding

 _Sorry Leo, I'm glad you managed to get me something I just wish it wasn't a nurse! But you're right it is better than nothing! Thank you! How much do I owe you?_

Again Leo responded within seconds

 _Don't sweat it Chase. Get me a date with Calypso and we'll call it even_

Annabeth thought it over before deciding it was a deal. She picked up the outfit and went to try it on, fortunately it was a perfect fit- the outfit emphasised her hips and showed a small amount of cleavage. Annabeth heard her phone ping and rushed over to her bed to read the text

 _Does it fit ok anyway?_

Annabeth stood up again and twirled in front of the wardrobe mirror admiring the costume

 _It's perfect! How did you know my size?_

 _Piper told me_

Piper had told Leo her size? Did that mean she still was still looking out for her?

Just then her door opened and Piper walked in. Annabeth looked up from her phone and their eyes locked on one another. Piper looked away first and shut the door whilst Annabeth looked back at the screen on her phone. Annabeth suddenly got a wave of courage but when she spoke she sounded very nervous and hesitant,

"Are you going tonight?"

What a stupid question Annabeth realised, of course Piper would be going tonight

"Yeah" Piper mumbled

Annabeth nodded and looked back at her screen, the tension was too much

"Do you know what you're dressing up as?" Annabeth asked trying to continue the awkward conversation. Piper remained silent for a minute or two before answering

"Me and Jason were thinking about going as a zombie footballer and zombie cheerleader"

"You two are going to rock that"

Piper let out a light laugh "Thanks"

Annabeth smiled and returned to her phone.

"You look good in that" Piper announced.

Annabeth looked up to see Piper lingering in the door frame "Thanks Pipes"

Piper produced her dazzling smile before leaving Annabeth alone.

* * *

The rest of the day went pretty quickly, Annabeth had spent majority of it in the library. Her phone had buzzed a few time with texts from Luke which she glanced at but didn't reply to until she got back to her room at 5PM. 5 hours before he was supposed to collect her for the party. Luke refused to tell her what he was dressing up as, so in response, she refused to tell him what she was wearing.

Luke continually teased her for the next hour over text stating that he knew something she didn't, knowing that it would drive Annabeth crazy that she didn't know something, even if it was something as small as a costume.

* * *

7PM. 3 hours until the party, was it too early to start getting ready?

She thought about what she needed to do, take a shower - she needed to shave aswell and to make sure it was clean cut that meant not rushing so that was at least 45 minutes, drying her hair =20 minutes, it should take her roughly 30 minutes to make the zombie make up effective and look decent enough to actually wear, maybe 15 minutes for the wig, (make sure all her hair was tucked in and it didn't fall off) that took her to 1 hour and 50 minutes. That gave her an hour and 10 minutes to relax afterwards.

* * *

8:50PM Annabeth had nailed her make up and the wig looked great. She sat on her bed with a mirror in one hand and her spooky contacts in the other. She hadn't allowed time for her contacts but luckily she had allowed enough time before Luke arrived. She also didn't realise how hard it would be to try and put them in her eye. Annabeth wished she had asked Piper when she walked in, that's the only reason she remembered them because Piper had hers in and they looked incredible. Pipers were a gloomy white with a blood splatter as the pupil, it really completed her zombie cheerleader outfit. Piper was helping set everything up and she had been all day, Annabeth had offered to help but Leo politely told her "Absolutely not, it will be a disaster"

"Isn't that the point?"

"Not the kind of disaster we want"

"Oh"

* * *

9:10PM and Annabeth had finally put her eye contacts in and she had to admit, she was killin' it.

*knock knock*

Annabeth walked over to her door to see Luke grinning ear to ear in a red devil costume.

"You couldn't tell me what you were dressing up as because you didn't have a costume?" Annabeth joked

"Ha ha holy smokes you look hot" Luke said only just noticing what Annabeth was wearing

"I was going for scary not hot"

"Well you're the scariest, hottest zombie nurse I've ever seen"

"How many have you seen?"

"Only the one" Luke beamed

"Why are you early anyway? You shouldn't be here until 10 which gives me almost an hour to-"

"Sit around and read? Nope come on we're taking a detour"

Annabeth let out a groan before quickly grabbing her bag and walking out with Luke.

Once they got down the stairs Luke placed a blindfold in her and they started walking again, after what seemed like 5 minutes Annabeth asked

"So where are we going?"

"You'll have to wait. You know for a nurse you're not very good with patience"

"If this blindfold messes up my make-up"

"It won't I made sure, jeeeez relax"

Annabeth did just that, her shoulders dropped by her side and her legs moved less robotically. They walked a little further in silence but Annabeth couldn't resist talking

"I know we're outside" Annabeth admitted

She could practically see him roll his eyes at her,

"Yes" he sighed "Now no more questions"

She smirked, she knew that he was excited and nervous about how she would take this surprise, she could feel his hands tremble on her arms when she brought up where they were going.

Annabeth was just starting to enjoy the walk and had finally put all of her faith in him (possibly a decision she may regret) when he stopped her abruptly.

"We're here" he announced

He gently untied her blindfold and she was lost for words at the 'surprise'.

* * *

 **100% promise to upload the next chapter on Sunday which will show Luke's surprise and the... Eventful party ;)**


	23. Chapter 23 Party from hell

**To the review regarding Lukeabeth; They make a great story. My story is based around Annabeth having to decide between Luke and Percy. Also, I had thought about making Luke older but I really wanted them to bond through classes so they had to be the same age :/**

 **Yes I know I'm a horrible person because I said Sunday and about 100% of you probably thought I meant last Sunday but I wanted to make sure this was a totally awesome chapter which meant I needed longer to work on it- Sorry!**

* * *

Luke had actually made a Halloween picnic seem adorable; there was a bright white blanket placed on the grass surrounded by pumpkin candles with a cauldron sat in the middle. In the trees were little white ghosts he had cut out of paper and some pumpkin lights.

"I know there's food at the party but I thought you might be a bit peckish now"

"Luke"

He started scratching his head

"I know I should have checked with you first but it seemed like a good idea at the time"

"Luke"

"I wanted to do something nice for you"

Annabeth took a step towards him and grabbed his hand

"Luke"

He looked down at their hands and smiled giddily like a child before looking at her to see her also grinning,

"It's wonderful, I can't believe you did this for me"

He went a little embarrassed and his cheeks started going red. Annabeth ignored him and went and sat down on the blanket, he walked over and sat with her. Luke laid down on his side resting his face in his palm looking at Annabeth, they talked for what seemed like hours but it was only one. They didn't talk about anything specifically but fortunately for Annabeth neither of them brought up the kiss.

"So the foods in the cauldron?" She asked, remembering that this was the reason they were out here

He sniggered and pushed himself to sit up "Put your hand in and you'll find out"

Annabeth glanced at him suspiciously before deciding to reach into the cauldron, as she did she felt something on her hand and instantly drew it out

"What's in there?" She asked, she could feel herself sweating and getting nervous. Annabeth knew what was in there, her worst nightmare.

"Spiders" Luke stated

"SPIDERS?" Annabeth shouted and jumped up and took a few steps away from the blanket

"They're not real, just really realistic" Luke reached in and pulled one out and sat it in his palm. The spider didn't move, Annabeth wanted to say it was a rubber one but Luke was right, it was more realistic than that. As if to prove his word, Luke picked it up by the leg and wobbled it a bit and it moved all together simultaneously. Still clinging onto one of the legs, he flung it at Annabeth and she screamed but luckily managed to move to the side so it went flying past her.

Luke suppressed a laugh "Now will you come back here so we can eat?" Luke asked watching her from the blanket, despite knowing it wasn't real Annabeth was still too frightened to go back over.

"I'm not very hungry"

She heard Luke sigh before he stood up and walked over to her

"They're not real Annabeth"

His eyes widened and his face looked alerted "Stay still" he told her

She froze "why?"

His eyes transfixed on her shoulder, he reached over and she could feel him gently brush against it like he just picked something off.

"What? What is it?" She asked trying to remain calm

He looked at her and then opened his hand where she saw a spider. She knocked his hand away and freaked out, pacing back and forth wiping herself down, afraid that another spider might be on her. Luke, on the other hand, couldn't stop laughing, when she realised he was laughing she stopped pacing and started hitting him which caused him to laugh even more.

"I can't believe I fell for that! Jerk!"

"I can't believe how scared you are" he said through breathes of laughter.

Once he'd finished laughing they decided they would eat the food at the party and that it was time for them to get to the party, so they walked back to the school, side by side.

* * *

Luke held the gymnasium door open for her and as Annabeth walked in she felt her stomach flip, Percy was in here and her heart knew it. She took a quick glance around but she couldn't see him. Leo was right, hundreds of people had turned up so the likely hood of her bumping in to Percy were small right? That put her mind at ease- slightly.

Everyone had dressed up for the occasion; there were vampires, Frankensteins, nurses, witches, clowns, everything even remotely linked to Halloween. The lighting produced pumpkins all over the place and similarly to outside with Luke, ghosts had been cut out and stuck everywhere. There were fog machines which created a thick fog on the floor and some fake trees has been placed around the gym creating a terrifying atmosphere. The music was loud and mysterious- heavily in the rock genre.

It was awesome.

Annabeth found herself alone as her and Luke got separated by some zombified gladiators. She scanned the room looking for a familiar face but she couldn't see one so settled on going to get a drink instead.

When Annabeth got to the drink table she saw that this time the drinks had already been poured out but none of them were labelled. There was just a table filled with pre-poured alcohol and a little section filled with shots; she had no idea what was what. A figure stood next to her and also studied the table "It's like a lucky dip" the voice was unclear like it was being covered by a mask, it was deep and she identified it as a man's voice.

She smirked "or unlucky, what if I don't like any?" Annabeth looked at the guy standing next to her, he was wearing a doctor costume with a green scrub top, green trousers and purple gloves. Over the top he wore a white jacket with blood stains on, completed with a stethoscope. She glanced at his head where she saw he was wearing full head zombie mask showing a brain where his hair should have been, the eyes had been cut out and if he wasn't wearing contacts she would have been able to see his real eye colour.

"Ah, that might be a problem" he replied

Annabeth nodded, the one in the red cup didn't look that bad, she picked it up and smelt it. She recognised it almost immediately.

"How about we drink together" he suggested as he picked up a blue cup "You drink from the red cup, I'll drink the blue cup and then we swap and see whose we like better"

"Can you even drink with that on?" She pointed at his mask

"I made a hole specifically"

He grabbed a straw and put it through the hole between the goofy teeth of his black pitiful mouth. Annabeth smirked, this guy was actually quite clever. He handed her the red cup and put a straw in it for her and picked his cup up and knocked them together

"Cheers" he said

"Cheers"

Annabeth sipped the drink through the straw and as soon as the liquid touched her mouth she felt better. Ahh, Rum and Coke. She took another big sip before removing it from her lips, she glanced at the guy next to her who had just done the same.

"What's yours? He asked

"You'll have to figure it out" she stated as she swapped their cups around

She thought she heard him smirk before he clonked their cups together again and they said cheers. This one was different, she'd never had it before, this tasted a lot stronger. It was nice but she preferred her Rum and Coke. Annabeth saw him take another swig so she did the same.

"Which do you prefer then?" He questioned

"Gimme back the red cup" she spoke child like

He laughed and gladly took the blue cup back

"Did you figure out what they were?" She raised her eyebrows as she drank through the straw

"Yours is Rum and Coke and mine is Whisky and Coke"

Annabeth nodded like she already knew the answer and was approving his. They finished their drinks at the same time and Annabeth turned to look around the gym to see if she could spot someone she knew. She spotted Rachel and Hazel talking to two guys, who she assumed were Frank and Percy as they had their backs to Annabeth. Rachel was dressed as a Vampire with her red hair loosely curled. From the looks of it Percy was Dracula as he had flattened down his hair and greased it all back and wore a long black cape. Hazel had dressed up as a witch and supposedly Frank, was sporting a werewolf outfit.

"Friends of yours?" He asked

"Old friends would be a better description" she said, her eyes studying the way they all laughed together. Fortunately the guy got the message that Annabeth didn't want to talk about it and just responded with a nod.

"Where are your friends then?" She asked as she watched Rachel talk to Percy,

"They're around somewhere but right now I'm talking to you"

Annabeth heard what he said but her eyes were still transfixed on Rachel and Percy,

"She's pretty don't you think?"

"Who? Rachel? ... I've never really thought about it"

Annabeth sighed "She's pretty, Dr Zombie" and turned around. She looked across the table for a second before reaching for another cup when she felt latex gloves stop her.

"Let's do a shot instead Nurse Zombie"

That made Annabeth smile slightly and she returned her hands to her side. He picked up two shot glasses and handed one to her, they changed their bodies to face each other and on the count of 3, threw their heads back and downed it.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?" She asked when she placed the glass back on the table

"Something like that"

Annabeth felt a tap on her shoulder and she whizzed around to see

"Luke" she exclaimed and he gave her a cheeky smile

"I hope you've left some drink for everyone else"

"Yeah me and-" she turned around to introduce Luke to Dr Zombie but he had disappeared

"You and?" Luke asked her with his eyebrows high

"Err... some guy and I only had a cup each... oh and a shot"

"Well would you like to grab another and maybe talk a walk around?"

"Sure" she reached for a red and blue cup

"Oh I'll have the yellow one actually, I'm not a big fan of Coke... Or the colour blue" he laughed

Annabeth faked a laugh and quickly swapped the blue cup for a yellow one.

"What's in the yellow cup then?"

After gulping down a few mouthfuls Luke answered "Vodka and Lemonade"

* * *

Annabeh and Luke made their way around the gym making sure to avoid the bopping for apples and feel what's in the box. Annabeth's eyes couldn't help but search for the guy she had been speaking to a few minutes ago but she couldn't see him.

"Oops sorry" Annabeth apologised to a slim brunette as she bumped into her, the girl turned around and revealed herself to be Calypso. It was easy to see why Leo liked her, she had dark almond eyes, milky face and a peach-colored complexion and pouty lips. Although tonight she was sporting some scars on her face with fake blood pouring out of it.

"It's alright don't worry about it" Calypso smiled and Annabeth returned one, Annabeth turned to walk off with Luke assuming her and Calypso's conversation was over but he'd disappeared into the crowd, she sighed and thought about going to find Piper and Jason or maybe even Leo instead when Calypso interrupted her thoughts

"You're Leo's friend right?"

"Yeah, it's good I bumped into you, I actually need to ask you something-"

"Stay away from him"

"Yeah so Leo asked- wait, what?" Annabeth stopped after realising what Calypso had just said

"Stay away from Leo"

"Why? He's my friend, it's not like you guys are even together anyway...WAIT... You like him don't you?"

"I never said that" Calypso spoke defensively

"So why do you want me to stay away from Leo?" Annabeth said smugly

"...I don't want to see him get hurt"

"Because you like him" spoken smugly again

Calypso got defensive again "he's scrawny and can't protect himself"

"So why don't you tell him that you don't like him? Stop him from getting hurting"

"I...i..." Calypso stuttered with no other words available to roll off her tongue

Annabeth smiled victoriously "Just go on a date with him"

"And let that scrawny boy know he's winning me over? Never"

Annabeth laughed and so did Calypso, Annabeth caught sight of Luke and was about to start making her way towards him, when she turned to look back at Calypso

"Take a leap of faith. He's trying hard, he could have given up but he hasn't, he's still fighting for you"

Calypso smiled and Annabeth knew that she was thinking about Leo, she turned to go and find Luke when Calypso grabbed her hand. Annabeth didn't quite digest what Calypso said because it didn't sound believable and how would she know? Annabeth was angry that she would even suggest it so she yanked her hand free and stormed off to go and Luke.

* * *

Annabeth searched and searched for Luke but she couldn't see him, she was getting angry and fed up now. She decided she needed another drink so walked towards the drinks table when she was stopped by arms wrapping around her and lifting her up.

"What are you doing?" She yelled "put me down" she then started hitting at the arms wrapped around her,

"Jeez Annabeh it's only me"

"Leo?"

"Haha what do you think?" He stood back to allow Annabeth to see his whole outfit, he was dressed as the joker, he even had the green hair, creepy face make-up and green waistcoat. Totally unrecognisable.

"It suits you" she remarked

He stepped towards her "Are you ok?" He asked and despite the heavy make up she could see his concern

"Don't get me wrong I'm glad you decided to come but I don't want you to be raging, it's a party- it's supposed to be fun"

"I just bumped into Calypso and she told me that Percy hasn't given up on me. Who does she think she is? She clearly doesn't know anything about him because if she did then she would know that he chose Rachel"

Leo opened his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by Dr Zombie

"Finally I've found you, been looking for ages" he handed her a red cup like earlier and Leo a blue one, the same as his.

She smirked "You're the one who wondered off"

"I had to talk to someone quickly, anyway we're reunited now and that's the main thing"

Annabeth nodded whilst Dr Zombie and Leo exchanged glances, "Leo, this is Dr Zombie, Dr Zombie this is my BFF, Leo"

"Actually Annabeth we already know each other" Leo stated

"Oh, then whose under the mask?" Annabeth questioned

"What Leo means to say is, we've already been introduced to each other tonight"

Although Annabeth couldn't see it, she knew that the guy underneath the mask was giving Leo a glare for saying they already knew each other. Did she know him aswell?

"Oh ok then"

"Anyway let's drink" Dr Zombie announced and all 3 clinked their cups together and drank, Annabeth finished her's first.

Leo was the next one to finish and his eyes rested on something behind Annabeth, he elbowed Dr Zombie who had just finished his drink

"I'll go get us some more drinks, be right back" and he quickly hurried off.

Strange, Annabeth thought. Then she felt a hand in her waist

"Do you think we'll get to spend some time together" Luke laughed and Annabeth nervously laughed,

Luke looked across and recognised who was in the jokers outfit immediately

"Suits you Leo"

"Back at ya Luke" he grunted

Annabeth could feel the tension in the air, not that Luke seemed to care as he smiled at Leo's remark. Just then a muscular zombie footballer walked over followed by a zombie cheerleader and Annabeth knew the situation was about to get worse.

"Did I hear you right Luke? Did you insult Leo?"

"Jason don't" Piper tried to pull him away

"It's under control Jason" Leo claimed

Luke smiled mischievously "I wondered how long it would be until I saw you, how is she?"

"Luke" Annabeth whispered through gritted teeth

He turned and looked at her and he had a look in his eye that she'd never seen before, he looked angry and out for blood but behind that she could see his eyes were glossy and his pupils were slow to react.

"You're drunk, you wouldn't be doing this otherwise"

"No this has been coming for a long time" he shouted

Jason stared him down whilst Piper, Leo and Annabeth exchanged nervous glances.

Piper pulled at Jason and was begging him not to do whatever he was thinking about doing, his fists were clenched just like Percy's had been before he punched Luke. With the help of Leo, Piper managed to drag Jason away but not before Annabeth managed to mouth a 'Sorry' to her which Piper mouthed back 'So am I'.

Annabeth turned her attention back to Luke

"What the hell Luke?"

"He had it coming, he had no right to interrupt our conversation" he shouted as he lost his balance

"You didn't need to bring Thalia into it!" Annabeth yelled back refusing to help him gain his balance, Luke fell to the floor and Annabeth stood with her arms folded

"Fuck off you bitch"

"You know what Luke, maybe I will"

Annabeth walked away leaving Luke on the floor attempting to stand up.

* * *

As she found herself walking to the toilets she saw Nico, Kelli, Katie and the Stoll brothers sitting in the corner

"Where's Luke?" Kelli asked, she was the only who hadn't dressed up, she wore a black long sleeved top and a jet black pair of jeans.

"I don't know and I don't care" Annabeth replied

Kelli huffed "Well seeing as I do care, I'll go and find him"

Kelli got up from her seat and left to go find him, Annabeth promptly sat in the seat.

"You all look great" Annabeth said as she glanced across their glum faces, Nico had dressed up as a skeleton, Katie as a witch and the Stoll brothers were scary Oompa Loompa's.

"Are you having fun?" She wondered

"We were-" Nico started answering

"Then we need to get up and go dance" Annabeth interrupted and forced a smile

"That's the last thing we need Annabeth" Katie said

"Come on Katie lets go dance" Connor suggested

"No Katie dance with me" Travis argued

"Thanks Annabeth, they won't give up now" Katie smirked as she stood up and made her way to the dance floor with the Stoll brothers following her like sheep. Annabeth and Nico remained seated.

"Don't you want to dance Annabeth?" Nico asked

"I'm not in the mood" she answered

"Whatever's happened with Luke, it shouldn't ruin your night, you should go and enjoy it"

"Your not bad you know Nico"

"I try not to be all the time" he smiled

"Any girl would be lucky to have you"

"I think my boyfriend would disagree with that"

"Wait you're gay?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Nico sat back in his chair and smiled

"Not at all!"

Nico chuckled "Well now you know"

"Do I know the boyfriend?"

"Err maybe.. Will? He's in my science class"

"I'll be sure to keep an eye out for him" Annabeth winked

* * *

A few hours passed and Annabeth found herself in the middle of the floor dancing, by now she had drunk 6 cups of Rum and Coke, 3 shots and a jägerbomb **[DON'T DO THIS AT HOME KIDS]** so yeah, Annabeth was drunk... Only slightly though. She was stumbling over to the side and losing her balance and was about to fall on the floor when Dr Zombie caught her.

"Woah there Annabeth, how many have you had to drink?"

"I... How... Who"

"Big help. Thanks."

Annabeth saw a girl with red curly hair approach and put a hand on Dr Zombie's shoulder

"Just leave her Percy, she's got nothing to do with us anymore"

Did Annabeth hear her correctly, did she call Dr Zombie...Percy? Wasn't Percy Dracula?

"I can't just leave her Rachel"

"It's her or me Percy"

He pulled his mask off and revealed his perfectly handsome face. It was Percy. Annabeth clung onto him and Percy kept his arm firmly round her, "We're not doing this now Rachel, not here"

"Why? Afraid of everyone over hearing, well let them, HEY EVERYONE LISTEN UP"

No one even glanced in their direction, "Rachel just calm down" he attempted to reason with her

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down" Rachel shouted at him

"I'm not leaving her Rachel but that doesn't mean I choose her"

"Fuck you Percy" and with that Rachel stormed off.

"Per...ssss...eeeee" Annabeth said excitedly

"I'm here Annabeth don't worry, I'm here"

Suddenly the music died down and they heard shouting, Percy lifted Annabeth onto her feet, lifted one of her arms round the back of his neck and put his hand round her waist and they walked in the direction of the yelling. Percy forced their way through the crowd and found themselves standing next to Leo watching Piper scream and shout at Jason. Annabeth could just about hear Percy and Leo's conversation

"What's going on?" Percy whispered to Leo

"Apparently Piper caught Jason kissing another girl" he whispered back

"Who was the girl?"

"Reyna"

"Shit, she's been in love with him, since like forever"

They watched on as Jason tried to explain but Piper wouldn't give him the chance.

"Here hold her" Percy said to Leo as he moved Annabeth to lean onto Leo, she put her head on her shoulder and turned so she could watch what was going on. Percy got in the middle of Piper and Jason, he held his hand to force Piper back,

"Piper, please calm down"

"HE KISSED HER PERCY, HE KISSED REYNA"

"NO I DIDN'T! COME ON PIPES, YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT CHEATERS DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD BE ONE?!" Jason was pressed up against Percy's other hand trying to argue back

"I DON'T KNOW JASON"

"I WOULDN'T PIPER, I WOULD NEVER HURT YOU"

"THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE KISSED REYNA"

"FOR FUCK SAKE PIPER, I DIDN'T! HOW MANY MORE TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY BOYS APPROACHED ME TONIGHT JUST FOR A DANCE AND I TURNED THEM DOWN BECAUSE I'M WITH YOU" Piper screamed at him

"WELL I NEVER SAID YOU COULDN'T DANCE WITH THEM, IN FACT NEXT TIME GO AHEAD AND DANCE WITH EVERY BOY HERE" Jason furiously shouted back.

The crowd that had gathered round gasped and Jason looked at their faces before looking back at Pipers to see tears rolling down her cheek.

"You've both had a lot to drink so let's just go to bed and we can sort this in the morning" Percy said glancing at them both, Jason nodded

"Don't bother" Piper said before turning to make her way through the crowd, she stopped when she saw Annabeth leaning on Leo and her face turned from a scowl to a sympathetic one

"Come on let's get you back to our room" she whispered to Annabeth, Annabeth nodded and managed to lift herself to her feet.

"Wrap your arm around me" Piper told her and Annabeth did as she was instructed

"Do you want any help?" Leo offered

"No we're fine thanks Leo" Piper replied

And the girls made their way back to their room before anyone else could say a word.

* * *

 **I promised an eventful chapter and I hope I didn't fail to deliver!**

 **Now on to the sad news, so Uni is more demanding than I thought so I'm only going to be able to update once a week, sometimes not even that :(**

 **I will try as hard as I can to update as soon as possible but if I don't, just know that I am as annoyed as you are!**

 **p.s I feel like it's time to have a cover photo for this story so if anyone draws any fan art that they wouldn't mind me using as please contact me! Of course I will write in the summary who the photo belongs to- it's not cool to steal other people's work!**


	24. Chapter 24 After-Party

Annabeth threw up for the remainder of the night. Annabeth managed to warn Piper before they got to the room so Piper rapidly directed her to the toilets instead. They ended up staying there as Annabeth continued to chuck up every half an hour.

"You can leave if you'd like" Annabeth weakly managed to tell Piper

"And miss this? No chance" she remarked

Annabeth produced a faint smile as she sat up and removed her head from the toilet. She hadn't thrown up but she knew it would be soon. Piper returned the smile as she pulled Annabeth's hair into a loose ponytail using one of the hairbands she that had used to put her hair in bunches in order to complete her cheerleader look.

"I'm going to get you a glass of water, I'll be right back"

Piper stood up and Annabeth looked up at her

"Thank you" she spurted out, Piper flashed her a smile before disappearing and Annabeth's head returned to the toilet.

* * *

Piper returned with a glass of water just as Annabeth finished throwing up. She handed it over to Annabeth who promptly took a mouthful and swigged it round her mouth before spitting it out. She took another swig and spat it out again before flushing it away.

"We should really swap outfits" Annabeth joked as she sat back against the cubicle wall

"And whys that?" Piper also sunk to the ground opposite her and leaned against the cubicle wall

"You're the nurse whose looking after the stupidly drunk cheerleader"

"I don't know about that, I was also a stupidly drunk cheerleader tonight"

"Ok so we wear half and half" Annabeth suggested before sipping at her water

Piper smirked and they fell into a comfortable silence.

Annabeth had just started to dose off when Piper spoke

"How could one night turn into such a disaster"

"Everyone drank too much- me included" Annabeth tiredly answered

"I never would have guessed that" Piper remarked

"You and Jason, Jason and you. You'll work this out" Annabeth said confidently,still feeling a little drunk

"I don't know if I believe that" Piper sighed, Annabeth could see that she was upset but couldn't do anything to comfort her

Curiosity got the better of Annabeth,

"Did you see it happen?" She queried whilst sipping her water

"Yeah and it looked pretty passionate to me"

"And it was definitely him?"

Piper was quiet for a moment before speaking "When you saw Rachel talking to Dracula, did you feel your heart drop? And like your gut had been ripped out of you?"

"I don't know what Dracula has to do with this"

"I thought Dracula was Percy and I spotted you from across the room watching them together so I'm guessing you thought Dracula was Percy too?"

Annabeth nodded and Piper continued "But did your instincts tell you that it was?"

Annabeth thought about it for a second, she didn't feel anything when she saw Rachel and him talking- was it because deep down she knew it wasn't Percy? Oh no, things were about get heavy, she needed to at least pretend to be sober from now on.

"No" was the only word able to leave Annabeth's mouth

"Well when I saw them that's what I felt, I knew instantly it was him." Piper's eyes turned puffy and tears rolled down her cheeks and gently hit the floor, Annabeth reached up for some toilet roll and passed it over to her

"If what I'm feeling is even a fraction of what it's like for you to see Percy and Rachel together" Piper shook her head and for a few seconds was speechless

"I think yours is worse, Percy's never been mine" Annabeth responded

"But you both know you belong together"

"So do you and Jason. He's fucked up, made a mistake, a huge mistake and I'm sure he knows that. It wouldn't surprise me if he's at our door right now trying to apologise"

"But he lied about it" Piper stated

"He's not about to admit in front of everyone that he cheated" Annabeth reminded her

"but-" Annabeth was interrupted by Piper

"But like I told you when you and Luke kissed, it doesn't require much thinking to know you don't want to kiss someone and push them away"

Annabeth sighed "Just talk to him about it later"

Piper looked like she was about to argue but could see how exhausted Annabeth was and soon enough, both girls fell asleep, leaning against the cubicle wall of the girls toilets.

* * *

Annabeth began to stir when she heard some voices. She looked across to see Piper still fast asleep and gently shook her whilst whispering "Piper, Piper we've got to go" repeatedly until she finally woke up. Annabeth felt a lot better than a few hours ago but still had a headache and felt groggy. They opened the cubicle door to see a few girls doing their make up and having a gossip, if Annabeth had to guess she would have said they were a year older than her and Piper.

"Rough night girls?" One of them asked,

Annabeth and Piper kept their eyes on the floor and nodded,

"Been there and done that" Another girl said, the group of 5 girls laughed whilst Annabeth and Piper tried to make their way through and out the door

"Wait" The one who first spoke shouted "At least wipe off your make-up before you leave. We don't need the boys making anymore jokes about how we look like zombies in the morning" and chucked Annabeth her packet of make-up wipes, luckily she caught it.

"Err thanks?" Annabeth said as she took a wipe, Piper hesitantly took one before standing in the mirror and wiping her face. Annabeth put the wipes on the side back next to the girl and did the same. The group of girls went back to gossiping and before long were talking about the party, Piper and Annabeth exchanged a glance and Annabeth knew they were thinking the same _We need to leave._

So they quickly finished wiping the zombie make-up off leaving them with squeaky clean skin, said thank you and left just as they started talking about Piper and Jason's argument.

* * *

"I can't believe they didn't recognise me" Piper whispered as they made their way back to their the room

"In their defence, there was a lot of zombie cheerleaders last night and you kind of all looked the same. And it's not like they know who you are 'cause they're the year above aren't they?"

"Reyna was a cheerleader... You don't think it's possible that-"

"That was not an answer to my question" Annabeth interrupted but Piper shot her a look and Annabeth sighed

"It's possible that Jason mistook Reyna for you"

Piper looked even angrier than when she was shouting at him last night. Annabeth was about to ask why when they came round the corner to discover that Annabeth had been right about Piper's boyfriend. Jason was slumped up against the door and probably had been all night. Annabeth looked at Piper but couldn't quite read what she was thinking. She had this look of anger mixed with sympathy. They stood there in the middle of the corridor frozen, unsure what to do.

"Do we wake him up?" Annabeth asked

"How am I supposed to know?" Piper whispered back

"Why are you whispering?" Annabeth raised her eyebrows

"People might still be sleeping" Piper responded

"Exhibit A" Annabeth whispered back and pointed at Jason.

Jason stirred and Piper clung to Annabeth, if anyone had got a photo of that moment, it would have resembled Scooby and Shaggy.

"Ring Percy" Piper insisted

"Why Percy? Isn't Frank Jason's roommate?"

"Just ring Percy"

"I left me phone in our room, you ring Percy"

"I left it in our room aswell"

"Well now what?" Annabeth questioned

"I don't know! I'm freaking out here"

"How about we go knock on Percy and Leo and then they can come and take him away?" Annabeth suggested

"What if he wakes up when they come to get him and he sees us" Piper asked with worry written all over her face

"We can hide and then when we know he's gone, go into our room and sleep"

Piper thought about it for a second whilst staring at Jason sat in front of the door like a guard dog.

"Ok let's go"

* * *

*knock knock*

Percy tiredly opened the door with his hair a complete mess with strands sticking up in every direction. Annabeth stood there speechless as he had never looked so intriguing... And he was only in his briefs.

"What ya want" he asked whilst he yawned, he rubbed his eyes and realisation hit him like a train when he saw Annabeth and knew he was wearing little clothing. He quickly grabbed a pair of jeans that were hanging at the bottom of his bed

"Sorry" he apologised whilst he went bright red, Annabeth would have teased him if she wasn't just as embarrassed and blushing like a tomato.

"Whatever Jackson, we need you to remove Jason from our door" Piper said as she pushed past and walked towards Leo to wake him up. Percy remained leaning against the door frame "Hi" he said,

"Hi" Annabeth replied as she stood on the opposite side of the door frame, Percy put his hand out to welcome Annabeth in. She sat on his bed and he shut the door.

"Oh man he's still there? Awesome! I honestly didn't think he would make it" Percy said after Pipers words sunk in

Leo tiredly sat up and made his elbow lean against his knee.

"You realise if we move him he'll kill us" he stated

"I don't care. Move him. I want to get to my room" Piper stated

"Come on Pipes, it's a romantic gesture- enjoy it" Percy piped up

"I'd prefer chocolates and flowers next time"

Annabeth giggled and Percy smirked whilst Leo groaned.

"I'm not doing it. I'm not moving him." Leo stated

"Annabeth help me here" Piper pleaded

"If you don't move him we'll have to sleep in your beds" Annabeth stated

"I've got no problem with that" Leo replied

"You didn't let me finish. You'll be sleeping on the floor- outside" Annabeth finished,

Leo practically shot up and put some clothes on

"Come on Percy, I'm not losing my bed to these because he was an idiot"

Piper hit him over the head. "He's still my boyfriend"

"Doesn't mean he's any less of an idiot" Leo argued and stuck his tongue out at her.

Percy quickly grabbed a top and pulled it over his head. Before Annabeth could say another word they were dragged out of the door by Leo and on their way back to her room.

Piper and Annabeth stood round the corner with their heads just sticking out so they could watch the struggle between Percy, Leo and Jason.

"Piper why were you behaving like that in their room?"

Piper smiled "Percy and Leo are going to tell him that I'm still furious so we will see how he tries to make it up to me when he's sober"

"That's pure evil, we should change your name to Piper McMean" Annabeth responded

"Maybe" Piper smirked as they watched Percy and Leo put an arm over each of their heads and started walking off, Jason was still drunk and half asleep. Annabeth suppressed a laugh and Piper grabbed her and they ran to their room. They shut the door and got straight into their beds, too tired to even change out of their fancy dress outfits.

"What an eventful evening" Piper remarked

"Definitely" Annabeth said as she let out heavy sigh "Can I ask you a question Piper?"

"Ask away"

"Are we friends again?"

Annabeth heard Piper sit up so she did the same. They stared at one another whilst Annabeth waited for Piper to answer

"I...We...ergh I'm no good at this" They both light heartedly laughed before Piper continued "I want to be, if you can forgive me after the way I've treated you"

"Done" Annabeth said with a smile, Piper shook her head in disagreement

"No don't do that. Don't let me off lightly Chase"

"Why not? I just want to forget about it and put it behind us"

"I don't deserve to be forgiven this quickly, make me work for it"

"You're tough work McLean"

Piper smiled sweetly, "I'm exhausted so we can talk this more when we wake up"

Annabeth yawned "Agreed" and they both fell back, resting their heads on their pillow and fell asleep instantly.


	25. Chapter 25 Disturbance

Annabeth woke to a fully dressed Piper rummaging through her bedside cabinet. She rubbed her eyes and yawned,

"What are you looking for?" Annabeth asked

"Lip balm or lipstick, just something to put on my lips"

"Make-Up is second drawer down"

Sure enough Piper pulled the drawer open to find it only contained a few items of make-up; 2 mascaras, 2 bottles of liquid foundation, a blusher, 2 eyebrow pencils, 3 pots of eyeshadow and 4 lipsticks.

"Why do you need it so desperately?"

*knock knock*

"That's why" Piper answered as she examined some lipsticks before putting them back

"Who is it?" Annabeth asked loudly whilst her eyebrows scrunched up from her confusion

"Jason" he called back

"Oh" Annabeth muttered and then stared at Piper "oh"

"Exactly, so I need to look spectacular" Piper answered as she quickly applied a red lipstick to her bronze face

"This early?"

"It's 2 o clock in the afternoon Annabeth" Piper replied whilst putting the lipstick back in the drawer

"I can still sleep for another 3 hours before tea" Annabeth said as she rolled over in her bed and snuggled into her duvet, she needed longer to recover from the events of last night.

"Whatever you say twitbrain"

"Enjoy... Whatever you want to call whatever you're about to do" Annabeth called out

"Thanks" Piper said sarcastically before Annabeth heard the door shut.

* * *

Annabeth fell asleep for another hour or so before there was a loud thudding on her door. She wrapped her duvet around her and answered the door to be met with fiery red hair and green eyes

"You were not who I was expecting" Annabeth muttered

"Invite me in so we can talk" Rachel responded

"What if I don't want to?"

"This is not a conversation I want to have in the hallway" Rachel spoke sternly but it played off as polite

"Technically we're in the doorframe so we can still have it" Annabeth answered smugly

Rachel forced herself past Annabeth and her duvet and sat on the end of Pipers bed,

"But of course you can push your way past instead" Annabeth said sarcastically as she closed the door.

"Do you love him?" Rachel quizzed Annabeth

"I'm sorry?" An astonished Annabeth managed to reply

"Percy- do you love him? Because I do with every ounce of my heart and soul"

Annabeth out of dignity and stubbornness, refused to answer so instead sat on her bed with her duvet still wrapped around her and looked at Rachel,

Rachel sighed "I'm asking because he loves you too"

Annabeth felt like her heart had stopped.

"He loves us both" Rachel continued "Now I'm asking as his girlfriend to please, back off. I love him and I'm good for him and we can be happy together. As his friend, I'm asking for you to please think about putting him first, think about what's best for him and understand that it's not you. I can't describe how much he means to me Annabeth, so I need to know, do you love him?"

Annabeth thought about the boy with raven black hair and sea green eyes and Annabeth knew the answer that Rachel was so desperate to hear, she could see in her face how much she wanted to hear it but Rachel's eyes told Annabeth that she already knew that wasn't the answer she was going to get, Rachel was on the brink of tears.

"I'm sorry" Annabeth whispered "I never meant for this to happen"

Tears started running down Rachel's face and Annabeth felt a little guilty, after all, she was to blame.

"I... I have to go" Rachel stated and she swiftly stood up and left, leaving Annabeth feeling empty and tired.

* * *

After Rachel left, Annabeth got dressed and left the room, she needed to clear her head and Piper still wasn't back from her meet up with Jason for her to talk to. Annabeth walked towards the entrance of the woods and found a fallen down tree, which was perfect for sitting on and looking back at the school- so that's exactly what she did. She studied the building and got so lost in thought about architecture that she nearly didn't notice the muscular boy walking towards her.

"I see you've found my favourite tree" Percy remarked and nodded towards the tree she was sitting on.

"You've got a favourite tree?" She quizzed as she moved up so he could sit down beside her

"Sure, he's called Bert"

"Bert the birch tree?" Annabeth's eyebrows raised slightly higher

"Birch? He told me he was pine- that pathological liar"

Annabeth smiled and their eyes met before they looked away from one another. She knew his jokes weren't funny and if anyone else had said it she probably would have told them to shut up but somehow coming from him, it made her smile.

"I think we're a lot like trees you know" Percy opened up

"And how'd you work that out?" Annabeth's face scrunched up in wonder,

"Trees look like they are constantly changing, they lose their leaves in the autumn, stripped bare in the winter-"

"Are you saying you've lost your clothes and come December, will be running around naked?" Annabeth interrupted

"As much as you would love that, absolutely not"

Annabeth blushed and a feeling spread along her that she identified as embarrassment.

Percy continued "What I mean is, they are constantly changing on the outside but their roots are still firmly in the ground"

Annabeth looked at him blankly, he sighed

"I'm not making any sense am I?"

"Are you trying to say, that it's still the same tree no matter what it appears to be on the outside? And that we still have our roots even if it looks like we don't?"

"That's exactly what I'm trying to say"

Annabeth glanced at him mischievously "Good thing I understand Percyish"

"Oh shut up" and he pushed her slightly as he said it

"Promise me something Percy" Annabeth said in a serious tone as she sat up straight,

"Anything" he replied

"Don't ever try to make a metaphor again because, and there's no easy way to say this, but you suck"

"You know what Chase" he huffed causing Annabeth to grin

"I was just trying to sound wise" Percy stated

"It doesn't suit you"

"Oh but it does you?" He asked with his eyebrows raised "Come on then, give me a metaphor right now"

"Why? I've got nothing to prove" Annabeth pointed out

"You'll be crowned Queen of Wisdom and have ultimate bragging rights" Percy replied.

Annabeth tried to argue back but Percy was being stubborn so she released a heavy sigh and glanced around for inspiration before looking at the tree they were sitting on.

"A tree, once uprooted from the earth, is very difficult to plant again"

"So?" Percy asked

"I'm just saying that not all trees still have their roots"

"Oh" Percy muttered

"I'm not a tree Percy. I'm a leaf. I've moved around all my life, I don't have roots anywhere. You've been here since you were 12, your roots are firmly in this part of the earth. I'm not like that and I'm glad because I don't want to be a tree, I don't want to stay in the same place my whole life. I want to see the world we live in"

Percy just nodded before speaking again,

"That got pretty deep"

"Metaphors are supposed to be deep" Annabeth responded

"Well I don't think that was Queen of Wisdom worthy but I think I can make Wise Girl work instead"

"Queen of Wisdom was too wordy anyway" Annabeth smirked

They fell silent and Annabeth enjoyed it as she looked back at the school, so much had happened already and it was only the 1st of November.

"Are you feeling better after last night?" Percy asked and he looked at her tentatively,

"A lot better thanks, although I can only remember all the dramatic parts of last night"

"It was like a cheesy tv show" Percy laughed and Annabeth smiled as she replayed last nights events. Percy quickly interrupted her memories to change the subject,

"Why is it so easy with you?"

"Excuse me?" Annabeth asked thinking it was an insult

"Just sitting here and talking with you. Why is it so easy? We just had a really random but interesting conversation about trees and they aren't even that interesting!"

"That's because we get along idiot, anymore stupid questions?"

"Yes, why haven't I had an interesting discussion about trees with anyone else Wise girl?"

"Maybe I bring out the supposedly intellectual side of you"

Percy stuck his tongue out at her remark and all Annabeth could do was smile.

"So why are you out here?" Annabeth asked as she snuck a look at his sea green eyes, god she loved those eyes.

He looked up from the pile of leaves he had collected with his feet,

"I'm plucking up the courage to go and see Rachel but I needed some space to think first. What about you?"

"The same...except the Rachel part, that's already happened" Annabeth confessed

"Why did you see her?" Percy asked confused

Annabeth silently cursed herself, she hadn't intended to tell Percy but she'd already admitted to seeing Rachel so she might aswell commit and tell him the whole story.

"She came and spoke to me about you actually" she admitted

"Oh" Percy looked back at his pile of leaves, it had become an awkward silence now and the tension kept rising. Annabeth could tell he was now shutting himself away from her and becoming distant and there wasn't a thing she could do to stop him. Annabeth wanted to tell him what she'd realised when she spoke to Rachel, what she realised last night but first she needed to suss out how he felt. She was just about to ask why he needed to talk to Rachel when he stood up and with his eyes firmly looking at the school and said,

"I better go"

He didn't wait for a response and stomped through his pile of leaves as he headed back to school. Annabeth noted that he didn't even glance back once.

Annabeth sat on the tree a little longer before taking her phone out to see a missed call from Leo, 4 voicemails from Luke - which she'd listen to later and half a dozen texts from Piper telling her to get back to their room so she stuffed her phone back into her pocket and promptly walked back to school with her mind still trying to figure out why Percy's mood had changed when she mentioned she had spoken to Rachel.

* * *

Annabeth walked up the stairs to find a blonde haired boy standing outside her room,

"Luke? I don't have time to talk right now ok, can we do this later?" She asked bluntly

"I can't wait much longer Annabeth, we need to talk"

"Well you're going to have to wait"

Annabeth opened the door to her room and slammed it shut leaving Luke to wait outside.

She entered her room to see Piper pacing around,

"What is so urgent that I have a missed call from Leo and a bunch of texts from you?"

"I don't know about Leo but I needed to talk to you about Jason"

"What did he say?"

"He apologised, said he was completely in the wrong and that he shouldn't have said what he said to me, that he thinks he only said it because he was annoyed at himself and took it out on me. He admitted that they kissed but it wasn't a passionate one and that he has no feelings for Reyna, that she's like a sister to him and he could never love anyone the way he loves me"

"Well that's good right?" Annabeth asked, not sure what response Piper wanted

"But what if he does it again? I don't want to be made a fool of"

"It's a risk you have to take but you can tell he loves you and nobody else. I don't think he will let himself do it again" Annabeth said and Piper smiled at her, grateful for helping her out.

"There's also a dickhead roaming the corridor waiting to talk to you" Piper added

"You could have a gave me heads up about that beforehand"

Piper just shrugged and Annabeth rolled her eyes

"What do I do?" Annabeth looked to Piper for guidance

"I have no idea" Piper answered honestly "But you have to go and figure it out"

Annabeth sighed and put on a brave face before approaching the door and took a deep breathe,

"Good luck kiddo" Piper yelled and Annabeth narrowed her eyes at her before opening the door to see Luke standing there, patiently waiting.

"Let's go" she told him and they walked off down the corridor.

* * *

 **Rubes. Rjw; hopefully this makes you feel less empty :)**

 **percabethluver; im sorry I updated as soon I could! You may have to wait a little longer for that ;)**

 **Thank you for the continued support guys!**

 **Also I'm not saying you suck...but you suck! My poll guys- go do it right now, it may or may not affect what happens next chapter...**


	26. Chapter 26 Letting go

They walked in silence and although they didn't say where they were going, Annabeth knew they were heading to the terrace. Once they got there Luke held the door open for her and she made her way over to the terrace wall and looked across the school grounds.

"I'm sorry-" Luke started saying as he appeared next to her "-For what happened last night, I should never have called you a bitch because you're not, not even close"

"You think I'm upset because you called me a name?" Her eyes widened in surprise, he started scratching the back of his head

"...well yeah" he said nervously.

"What about what you said to Jason?" Annabeth asked forcefully, she could feel the anger flowing through her body and it took all her strength to stop herself from punching him. Luke was silent.

"Do you regret what you said to him or do you simply not remember it?" Her eyes narrowed onto his,

"All I did was ask how she was" he said defensively

"It's the way you said it" she yelled at him "You did it in spite, there was no need for it. You crossed the line!"

"What about Jason? Why aren't you yelling at him?" Luke said and with every word his voice grew louder

"Because I care about you! I am the only one in your corner! I am the only one on your side but last night you went too far"

"I didn't even get started-" he tried to argue but Annabeth interrupted,

"BECAUSE I WAS THERE TO STOP YOU!" Annabeth screamed at him "I AM KEEPING YOU OUT OF TROUBLE AND I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN KEEP DOING IT"

"THEN DON'T" Luke yelled back "KELLI CARES ABOUT ME. SHE CAN KEEP ME OUT OF TROUBLE"

A tinge of jealousy struck a cord in Annabeth, "GO YELL AT YOUR PRECIOUS KELLY THEN, I DON'T FUCKING CARE ANYMORE LUKE"

"MAYBE I WILL, AT LEAST I KNOW WHERE I STAND WITH HER"

"WHERE YOU STAND? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE YOU STAND? Annabeth's anger was building "YOU CAN STAND FAR AWAY FROM ME" and she stormed over to the door and was about to walk through when Luke called out after her "Annabeth".

She stopped in the doorway. She hated how he had this power over her, how he could just say her name and she felt compelled to listen. Annabeth remained still because she was still fuming from their dispute and kept her eyes firmly on the floor and snappily replied "What?"

She heard him walk over and stand behind her but she refused to turn around, he spoke softly and it soothed her as she felt the anger fade away

"I'm sorry for bringing Thalia up last night and I'm sorry for mentioning Kelli just now. I want you to know that in those 5 seconds it took you to walk to the door, I realised how much I regret what I said and I don't want you to walk out on me. I'm taking my anger and pain out on you and that's not fair because you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." Luke released a heavy sigh as Annabeth still had her back to him "I don't want to lose you"

Annabeth turned around to look at him but she didn't get a chance because as she turned he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. She was caught off guard but naturally her head tilted to the right and his to the left and her eyes softly closed as they kissed. Annabeth couldn't hear anything other than her heart beat, the wind picked up and she got a whiff of his cologne, he smelt clean and citrusy with a hint of leather from his jacket. It wasn't supposed to be like this, he wasn't supposed to be a good kisser. She loved Percy, not Luke. Annabeth pulled away from his lips but his grip around her waist remained firm and their heads were separated by mere inches.

"This can't keep happening Luke" she said softly,

"I disagree, this should always be happening" He smiled at her but her face was full of worry

"Come on don't tell me you don't feel anything when we kiss?" Luke asked with confusion which Annabeth's face mirrored. Luke was charming and he always intends to do the right thing, even if he didn't go the right way about it.

"I don't want to put any kind of pressure on you Annabeth but we kissed. We've kissed twice now and both times were unbelievable. I know there's something between us and I'm sure you feel it too. And I want to know where I stand with you, because I'm getting mixed signals here and I am trying, I really am, to be the perfect guy for you. I enjoyed our pre-Halloween date yesterday and if you'd let me, I'd like to take you on more"

"More pre-Halloween dates? So once a year? I can make that work" Annabeth attempted to lighten the mood and redirect the subject, she slightly pushed him away as she said it whilst laughing and Luke tried to resist but he couldn't help but smile

"You know what I mean Chase, let's be Lukeabeth or whatever it was Stolls called us"

"How did we end up here? We were shouting at each other not even 10 minutes a go" Annabeth attempted to change the conversation again,

"You're cute when you're angry" Luke simply stated

"Can I get some space and think this over?" Annabeth asked as sweetly as she could

"Sure" Luke responded and promptly let go off her hip and took a step back

"I'll let you know" and with that Annabeth walked out.

* * *

Annabeth walked around aimlessly for a while before winding up outside Percy and Leo's room. She took a deep breathe and knocked on the door. To her surprise Leo opened the door, she was hoping it would have been Percy but she could settle for Leo. After all she did have a missed call from him, so she turned her frown upside down and into a smile

"Hey"

"Howdy" Leo responded, he was wearing a plain emerald green top with some denim jeans.

"Is Percy here?" She wondered,

"Nah he's still talking to Rachel"

She was a little disheartened but she tried not to show it,

"Did you want to come in and wait?" Leo offered

Annabeth nodded and stepped inside, she made a beeline to sit on the end of Percy's bed whilst Leo sat at the end of his own bed.

"So how are you feeling?" He asked,

"My heads all over the place, you?"

"I'm doing well considering how sleep deprived I am"

"Where did Jason sleep in the end?"

"Percy's bed, no way was he sleeping with me" Leo chuckled and Annabeth laughed aswell, "Did he sort everything out with Piper?" Leo asked

"They're ok for now but if they ever argue again Piper will use this fight as her ammo" Annabeth replied

"I don't think Jason will ever intentionally try and hurt her again"

"He didn't intend to do it last night...did he?"

Leo was silent and Annabeth's eyebrows pulled together and her eyes glared at his, "Did he?" she asked again more forcefully and when Leo looked away from her eyes and remained silent, she stood up and raised her voice in annoyance,

"Leo what aren't you telling me?!"

He sighed and turned to look at her once more "Look I don't pretend to know what's going through everybody's head all the time but Jason was angry that Piper had stopped him from having a fight with Luke so he wanted to get back at her-"

"BY KISSING SOMEONE ELSE?" Annabeth yelled interrupting Leo but he managed to keep his voice at the same volume,

"He didn't intend to kiss Reyna, he just wanted to flirt wth her and make Piper jealous but then Reyna kissed him and it just all spiralled out of control from there" Leo concluded

"I'm going to kill him" Annabeth stated and walked over to the door and flung it open,

"You're such a hypocrite" Leo muttered just loud enough for Annabeth to hear so she stormed back to where Leo was, well aware that she had left the door open.

"I'm sorry, I thought you I heard you say I was a hypocrite?"

"You are" Leo argued "You're saying how it's wrong of Jason to try and make Piper jealous but that's exactly what you're doing with Luke to Percy!"

"That's not the same" Annabeth disputed "And you know it"

"You told me that sometimes jealousy helps, gives the other person a little nudge. It helps the other person see what they've lost"

"Jason never lost Piper, she was still his girlfriend! I am not giving Percy a nudge, I am not trying to make him see what he's lost"

"So what the hell are you doing with Luke?" Leo questioned

"I like him Leo, I do, I really do but I love Percy"

"Righttttt... Still confused"

"She wants me to let her go Leo" a familiar voice said, Annabeth's face filled with dread as her and Leo spun around to see Percy standing at the door. Her eyes met Percy's and she could see that saying those words caused him pain. The look in his eyes were so lonesome. The glint that once made her heart melt now revealed a world of sadness and even though he would try to hide it with a fake smile, his eyes revealed it all.

Percy stepped inside and closed the door, "She wants me to let her go so she can love Luke"

"And you're going to let her?" Leo asked furiously

"I have to" Percy admitted "I have to let her go"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this" Leo said and started making his way to the door, Percy stepped infront of him,

"Leo"

but Leo just pushed him out of the way and stormed out.

Percy stood in silence thinking everything over whilst Annabeth remained on his bed thinking about what to say,

"How did you know?" Annabeth finally asked

"Your speech about how I'm a tree and you're a leaf. I didn't get it at first but then I realised when I was collecting them with my feet, they'd all separated from the tree. When did you know?" He questioned

"Not until Leo called me a hypocrite"

Percy nodded approving her answer and they fell into a silence again,

"Is this the right thing?" Annabeth asked

"Well Leo doesn't think so" Percy said trying to lighten the mood and went and sat next to Annabeth.

"Should we go after him?"

"I'll talk to him later, after he's cooled down" Percy responded

"Ok... We're doing the right thing aren't we?" Annabeth searched Percy for a reassuring answer

"Yeah we are" was all he gave her.

"Well I'll see you...later...friend" she replied

Percy gave her a small smile and she promptly left and headed back to her room, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

* * *

 **I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING...**

 **BUT I HAVE MY REASONS**

 **THIS IS NOT THE END! :)**

 ** _PunksNotDeadYouAre_ ; so you will probably hate this chapter but please don't give up on this story! I have SO much planned and this was an important part of it! **

**Thank you to those who voted on the poll!**

 **I told you it would affect this chapter and I'm sure you wonderful readers will be confused as to how because Percy is winning on the votes but it's all part of my mind games :P**


	27. Chapter 27 We hurt those we love

**I did write a chapter that I could have posted last week but I absolutely hated it and just was not happy with it so I started again!**

 **So I started again and then got hit with writers block. #yay**

 **I had weird writers block though because I had like no ideas for this chapter but I could not stop writing for the final chapter... Weird right?**

 **So I'm sorry it took me so long to update and this isn't my best chapter by far but I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Blake Jackson; I grant you half a wish! :P**

 **Guest; Here you go!**

 **Smartie Queen; ... Sorry!**

 **Ruzsian; It's amusing!**

 **veryfunny; Thanks that means a lot! Annabeth and Leo would be so cute together but I will tell you that they will not be together in this story, sorry!**

 **PunksNotDeadYouAre; I just know you very well! Ahahaha! Please do not give up, maybe it will happen... You'll just have to keep reading to find out! ;P**

 **emmagrace13; Well aren't you adorable! Thank you very much, that means a lot! There's more pain in future chapters so be prepared!**

 **Guest; heqbfvgjhWBHKLfvehouwevbiefbijnvINKLdvbhjskadfhjbmejkbfVjrknvlkadnvadlnsvMLDnvk;sbdvn;aobjva;evw;eiJVBNwoebnvouwdVBNIDSBVJKXNKJSNVJASDHUIWEHFUHWFjdskvjksdBVJdsbvfp...WHAT... YES**

 **Guest; I'm sorry! Honestly struggled to update this but it's here now!**

 **; I'm so sorry that you started reading it and then I get writers block! And who said this was a Percabeth story? ;) Anyway I hope you enjoy it**

 **On with the story Ladies and Gentlemen...**

* * *

When Annabeth entered her room, she told Piper what happened between her and Luke and how she then ended up talking to Leo and Percy before explaining to Piper her decision. Piper was furious, Piper bluntly said she agreed with Leo before storming out of their room, just like Leo did. Annabeth waited in their room for Piper to return and when she did (an hour later), Piper was a lot calmer. She allowed Annabeth to explain,

"I'm still confused" Piper responded after hearing Annabeth's explanation, she fell back on her bed and stared at the ceiling "You like Luke but love Percy but you're going to date Luke?"

"Hole in one" Annabeth joked

Piper shot up and sat straight "So you're ditching my best friend for his cousin who is, for the lack of better a word, a bloody arsehole fucking tosser shitty bastard"

"I think you missed a swear word"

"Wanker"

"I know you hate him-"

"Hate him? I can just about tolerate his name" Piper interrupted and Annabeth walked over from her bed and took a seat next to Piper on her bed

"Look, Percy's not going to end it with Rachel, he just can't bring himself to do it so I'm not going to wait for him when I could be with someone who loves me and without Percy in the equation, someone I could love back"

"Did Percy say that he wouldn't end it with Rachel?" Piper wondered

"He didn't have to"

Piper nodded and took a deep breath "So being with Luke is really what you want and it's going to make you happy?"

A smile crept along Annabeth's face when she thought of Luke and she pressed her top lip onto her bottom lip before nodding.

"And I don't get a say in that matter?" Piper questioned

"Look you're my best friend so if you honestly think I shouldn't do this, just say the word and I won't" Annabeth told Piper

"Really?"

"...No"

Piper playfully pushed Annabeth away as they both started laughing

"Percy's really ok with this?" Piper queried as her and Annabeth stopped laughing and sat normally, she looked at Annabeth tentatively

"He knew this is what we both needed before I did" Annabeth responded

Piper nodded and was silent for a few seconds as Annabeth's words sunk in

"You know for someone whose very book smart, you're not very clever when it comes to your emotions"

Annabeth chuckled "I think it's a condition- I'm emotionally constipated"

Annabeth and Piper smiled at one another before Piper said "I think it's a mistake but I will support you as long as you're happy"

"You mean that? Annabeth asked as she looked at Piper

"I do"

Annabeth thought about telling Piper what Leo had told her about Jason but she decided now wasn't the right time. Piper interrupted her thoughts and suggested they should go and get some tea, just those two. Annabeth gladly accepted, it would be nice to eat with Piper again.

* * *

Once they were in the canteen they grabbed a bowl of spaghetti before sitting down on one of the tables inside the canteen. They ate the duration in a comfortable silence which didn't bother Annabeth, it was nice not to have to make conversation. That was until they went up to grab a dessert and Annabeth saw Jason and Percy enter. Her blood started to boil and it wasn't over Percy, instead she was watching Jason and she had never hated anyone with such a burning passion. She needed to tell Piper what Leo had told her so she grabbed Pipers hand just as she was about to wave at Jason and dragged her out of the canteen and into the corridor.

"We need to talk about Jason" Annabeth insisted

"...ok..."

"He was intentionally flirting with Reyna, he led her on to get back at you" Annabeth tried to said concerning but her anger got the better off her and it came out bitter.

She was expecting Piper to burst into tears or to storm back into the canteen but instead she stood there portraying no emotion.

Piper took a deep breathe "I know Annabeth"

"What?!"

"He told me" Piper admitted "We spoke about it and he knows that what he did was wrong and he's sorry and he's promised to never do it again"

"And you forgave him just like that" Annabeth snapped

Piper replied forcefully "I forgave him because I love him and I know that he loves me too and what he did was heat in the moment. In the heat of the moment, I told him guys had approached me to dance with them and I said it to make him jealous. Some guys did want to dance with me but I had no reason to tell Jason that because I didn't dance with them. I didn't need to bring it up but I did it to get back at him"

"Why didn't you tell me that's why he did it?"

"I didn't want you to hate Jason, I've forgiven him so it was no longer important"

"It is important!" Annabeth snarled

"It isn't. When you love someone the way I do about Jason then it doesn't matter, you let the little things go because it isn't important. He was drunk and angry, I understand that and I know the person I'm in a committed relationship wouldn't do that"

"Being drunk is no excuse and that angry drunk side is still a part of the person you're in a relationship with"

Just then Annabeth noticed that Jason was stood at the doors where her and Piper had exited the canteen from and with him was Percy. Percy looked at her with concerning eyes and just like that, all her anger melted away. She took a deep breathe before her eyes looked over at Jason and she could see the regret all over his face. Jason walked over to Piper and placed his arm around her hip before speaking to Annabeth

"I want you to know Annabeth that I regret what I did and if I could take it back I would, but I am never going to hurt Piper again. I care about her way too much and I have jeopardised this relationship once and I will do everything to prevent that happening again"

Piper placed her hand on Jason's which was still glued to her waist and looked at Annabeth "I supported your decision, now I need you to support mine"

Annabeth glanced at Percy who was still waiting by the doorway not saying a word, she was desperate for his advice and she willed in her mind for him to give her a sign about what she should do. He surprised her by giving a slight nod as if he had heard her thoughts and she looked at Piper "You're my best friend Pipes, of course I support you"

The girls hugged it out before Piper got pulled into a hug by Jason leaving Annabeth to stare at Percy once more before deciding she needed to go and see Luke. She told Piper that she needed to go see someone, Piper nodded knowing they shouldn't say his name around Jason. As she walked past Percy she stopped to take another glance at him, he was standing there with his head down and staring at the floor. She couldn't help but wish it could have worked out for them but it was a case of wrong timing. Annabeh felt a dull ache in her heart as she forced herself to carrying on walking and she felt like something was gnawing at her gut. Annabeth unwillingly pressed the image of Percy out of her mind as she pushed the set of double wooden doors open and went to find Luke.


	28. Chapter 28 Officially Guilty

**Guess who got her mojo back... Moi!**

 **Guest; Apologies in advance! But I think I kind of met your request halfway? Like there is some Percabeth...**

 **WeDreamWhatWeWishToBecome; oh you ️ Not this chapter I'm afraid ;)**

 **raelauren; The last chapter will be based on New Years so depends how many more I can squeeze in between this chapter (still November 1st) and this chapter will drive you mad then about Percabeth or Lukeabeth**

 **Blake Jackson; Updated! Woooo! And Annabeth doesn't listen to you... Only Percy (You'll understand after you've read it mwahaha) ;)**

 **Ruzsian; kind of does :P**

 **This is a very kissy chapter so prepare yourselves ;)**

 **Still need a cover photo guys so please get in touch!**

 **So the next update won't be until at least the 15th of December which is so far awayyyy so I'm really sorry about that but I've got tests and assignments so every spare moment I have will spent revising for them ㈶2㈶2**

* * *

Annabeth suspected that Luke might be at the bench with the rest of the group so she decided to head there first. On the way over she couldn't help but picture Percy's face, he looked miserable. She kept replaying the moment she secretly willed for his advice and he gave her a slight nod, she wondered why he didn't say anything and imagined what he would have said if he did,

"He's got a heck of a lot of crap on his mind Annabeth"

"Doesn't mean he gets a free pass" she would have retaliated

"His sister might not wake up. Don't you get that? Thalia might die and there is nothing he can do to help her. Can you imagine having to live like that everyday? Not knowing if today is the day it happens, if today is the day she passes away. I couldn't do it. I could not walk around everyday and play happy families when someone I deeply care about is in the hospital...but Jason is. So now imagine how he would have felt waking up this morning realising he might have just lost 2 of the most important people in his life"

Suddenly Annabeth felt really guilty about the way she had treated Jason, she blamed her inner voice version of Percy. Conscience Percy had made a good point and although she didn't like what Jason did, she can't deny that she probably would have done something similar if she was in the same situation, perhaps even worse. The more she dwelled on it, the guiltier Annabeth felt so she decided she would find Jason after seeing Luke, apologise and make everything right with him- maybe she'll even treat him to a hug.

Once she arrived she spotted Nico and another boy who she didn't recognise sitting opposite one another, from the back Annabeth noted that the boy had blonde hair similar to Luke's but a narrow figure, as she got closer the wind carried their voices but it wasn't clear enough for her to work out what was being said. As she approached nearer the bench, Nico looked up and spotted her and quickly shouted "Hey Annabeth" and the other boy immediately turned around and their conversation stopped.

Annabeth thought about asking what they were talking about but decided against it, she just wanted to find Luke.

"Hey Nico, do you know where Luke is?" Annabeth asked once she reached the table,

"I think he's up in his room... This is Will by the way"

Annabeth noted that Will wore a plain orange top contrasting Nico's usual tone of black; Nico was wearing his favourite black top with a white skull imprinted on the front. Annabeth looked at Will who gave a charming smile which Annabeth politely returned,

"It's nice to finally meet you" and she glanced at Nico with the beaming smile still on her face but quickly returned her focus back onto Will to see a puzzled look on his face "Nico's talked about you" she admitted

"Well that's a first" he smirked as the puzzle look faded away "You must be considered a good friend if he speaks about me, it's not often he does"

Annabeth giggled, she could see why Nico found him attractive; he had sparkling blue eyes and a good sense of humour.

"I don't suppose you know what Lukes room number is?" Annabeth asked

"Yep, 386" Nico replied

"Great! Thank you"

"No problem" Nico responded

She waved goodbye to the boys and headed back into school to find Luke.

* * *

Annabeth was walking along the corridor and was about to pass Percy's room when she noticed a tug in her stomach and her instinct was telling her to go and knock on his door. She paused a few steps in front of his room, debating whether to knock or not. Then she noticed the room number 394, Luke's was only a couple of doors away and suddenly her mind cleared and she remembered why she was here. She slowly stumbled back from Percy and Leo's room and carried on down the hallway and was constantly scanning the doors 392, 390, 388 ahh finally 386!

Annabeth could hear two people talking inside and it sounded like Luke and Kelli, she pressed her ear against the door

"It's not a good idea" Kelli stated

"I don't remember asking for your opinion on whether it was a good idea or not" Luke argued

"Why else would you tell me? You want to hear the truth and you know I'm the only one who can give it to you!"

"There's a lot I seek your advice on Kelli but the truth is, who I want to date is none of your business"

Annabeth could only imagine the tension on the other side of the door so for her own amusement she decided now would be a good time to knock on the door.

*Knock knock*

Luke opened the door, blocking out Kelli and greeted her with a smile, he was wearing a long grey sleeved top with black jeans,

"Hey"

"Hi, have you got a minute?" Annabeth asked and she heard Kelli cough, Luke rolled his eyes and moved slightly to the right so Annabeth could see Kelli.

"Oh" Annabeth acted surprised "... Hi Kelli...sorry I didn't realise you were busy Luke.. I'll come back later" she said innocently

"That's a good idea" Kelli remarked with her arms crossed

"No don't be silly, Kelli was now leaving"

Kelli stared at Luke in disbelief before huffing and strutting past Annabeth.

Luke sighed and Annabeth stepped in as he shut the door behind her,

"So what's up?"

His room was the exact layout of Leo and Percy's room so she wandered over to one of the beds and pointed with her index finger to the one closest. Luke nodded, understanding that she wanted to know if that was his bed or his roommates, and she took a seat on the end. He took a seat next to her.

"I've been thinking about what you said" Annabeth started

Luke stared at the floor and rubbed his kneecaps with the palm of his hand

"And you don't want to be a couple" he sighed

"That's not-"

"It's ok Annabeth I understand" Luke interrupted

"Luke that's not what-"

"I respect your decision and I want to remain-"

Luke was cut off when Annabeth gripped his cheek with her right hand leaving his chin to rest on it and directed his head to look at her, leaving his mouth open like a fish

"Will you let me speak?" She asked him sternly with a hint of cheekiness

He nodded, her fingers still gripped firm around his cheeks

"I was coming here to tell you it's a yes"

His eyes widened in surprise and Annabeth couldn't help but smile at him. He placed his hand on her hand and removed it from his chin and with his other hand grabbed the one that was resting on the bed and slid his fingers inbetween hers and produced a dazzling smile.

They both knew what was about to happen and leant in at the same time and naturally their heads leant the opposite way making it easier for them to kiss. His hands made their way from her hands to the back of her neck and the bottom of her back whilst her left hand rested on his leg and her right hand was placed in the back of his hair. The kiss was full of passion and before long they had moved onto the bed completely with her head resting on his pillow and he was laying on top of her.

"Shit sorry...didn't realise you had company" Luke's roommate shouted as he entered the room and looked over at the pair, Luke stopped kissing Annabeth and grabbed the pillow from behind Annabeth's head and chucked it at his roommate just as he was leaving and closing the door. Annabeth and Luke looked into each other's eyes before bursting out with laughter, Luke rolled off of her and sat beside her instead.

"So we're a couple now?" Luke asked once they finished laughing

"Is that alright with you?" Annabeth asked sarcastically

"Oh it's beyond alright with me" he said before grabbing the back of her neck again and kissing her softly.

For someone unknown reason, Annabeth opened her eyes whilst they kissed this time to see Percy kissing her instead of Luke. Her face scrunched up in confusion and Annabeth blinked and he disappeared. She pulled away from Luke and got off the bed,

"Where are you going?" He asked

"Be mean to keep them keen" she flirty winked at him before promptly walking out and shutting the door before he could react.

* * *

Annabeth ran down the corridor and furiously knocked on Percy's door, Leo opened it

"Jeez Annabeth calm down or you'll break the door"

Annabeth looked past him to see Percy standing there staring at her,

"Leo please can you give me and Percy a minute?" She asked, her eyes glued to Percy's.

"Errrr sure, I'll just take a lap round the school or something"

"Make it 2" Annabeth replied.

Leo huffed before leaving whilst Annabeth stepped inside.

"So what can I do for you?" Percy asked, still standing up

"You're such an arsehole" she replied

"Excuse me?"

"You're inside of me Percy. In my brain, in my blood and in my heart"

"And you don't think you're inside of me?" He sounded hurt

"You have messed everything up!"

"I've messed everything up? I was happy before you came along but now I'm broken" he argued

"So go back to being happy and pretend like you never met me"

"Maybe I will"

"Great! Maybe I won't care about you anymore" Annabeth said spitefully and when Percy remained silent she realised what she'd said and how it sounded.

Annabeth took a step closer to Percy but he simply took a step back, she raised an eyebrow at him and stepped forward again, he reacted the same, taking a step back. If he took another step back he would be against the wall, so Annabeth took another step and sure enough he moved back and was now against the wall so she closed in on him so he couldn't escape. His face was turned and looking at the floor, she reached up to his face and placed her hands against either cheek and moved his face so his sea green blue eyes looked directly into hers, he looked like a lost puppy. Annabeth softly grazed his left cheek with her thumb before she leant on her tip toes and locked their lips together. She could feel him kissing her back and he grabbed her and pulled her up so that her legs were wrapped around his waist. Both of their hearts were beating in time with one another, he pushed off the wall and pinned her against it instead, thrusting his body onto hers. Soon tounges were involved and it was like a perfect dance, they were synchronised to one another. Annabeth knew they shouldn't be doing this but she couldn't resist, something drew him to her and she couldn't ignore it. She pulled away from his plump lips and he started kissing her neck and she couldn't help but let out soft moans. Annabeth's phone vibrated in her back pocket making a loud noise against the wall which killed mood. Percy took a step back and allowed Annabeth to slide off of his waist and she reached into her pocket to see a text from Leo

 _Can I come back now :(_

She smirked at her phone before glancing up at Percy who looked as miserable as ever,

"Percy?" She asked

"We can't let that happen again"

She swallowed and nodded, as great as it had been, it shouldn't have happened.

"We can't tell anyone about it either, not Piper not even Leo" he continued

She nodded again, there was not a soul on this earth she wanted to tell this to.

"I think it's best we avoid each other for a little while aswell" Percy added

"I think that's a good idea" she agreed "I'll just text Leo to let him know he can come back" she quickly replied to Leo and started making her way to the door and as she reached for the handle, Percy called out

"Annabeth...I think you need to speak to Jason and apologise for this morning"

Annabeth simply nodded and closed the door as she left, remembering that her inner Percy had told her the same thing- he really was her conscience.

* * *

Annabeth started walking back to her room hoping that Jason would be there with Piper.

As always, she was correct. She interrupted a serious make-out-make-up session.

"Oh gods I'm so sorry" she yelled when she walked in to see them together and she quickly hid behind the door, once Jason put his top back on Piper shouted that it was safe for her to enter.

"You know people have codes for this sort of thing like a sock or something"

"That's for sex Annabeth, not making out" Piper pointed out

"Well we should come up with something so this can be avoided in the future"

Piper laughed at her whilst Jason was still red with embarrassment,

Annabeth glanced at Jason and their eyes met, she knew he still thought she hated him so she needed to clear the air with him.

"Jason, I owe you an apology for how I reacted to you this morning"

"Annabeth you don't need to, you were just looking out for Piper and I appreciate that. If you ever feel I'm out of line I want you to tell me, Piper deserves the best and I want to be that for her"

Piper stroked Jason's arm in a comforting way before giving him a peck on the cheek

"Why the change of heart Annabeth?" Piper asked

"Let's just say someone talked some sense into me" she said with a smile and the others smiled at her. "I also have something else I need to tell the both of you"

Piper grabbed onto Jason's arm, bracing herself for what was about to come

"I wanted you to hear it from me first, as you know me and Luke have been spending a lot of time together" Annabeth spotted Jason's body stiffen and Piper cling onto him a little tighter "We're officially a couple now"

Annabeth wasn't sure what to expect but this wasn't it,

"I can't say anything to change your mind can I?" Jason asked

"Piper's tried, Leo's tried your welcome to have a go but I'll tell you what I've told them, I haven't seen that side of him that you have, he's changed"

"If he hurts you...I will kill him" Jason insisted

"And I won't stop you"

"Promise?" Jason asked

"Promise"

They all laughed together before Piper decided they should go and eat, so that's exactly what they did.


	29. Chapter 29 Together

**Hello my dearly devoted readers,**

 **I said Tuesday 15th and I deliver on Tuesday 15th!**

 **Although, I will apologise in advance for it being a shorter chapter but hey ho, maybe I'll make the next one longer...**

 **pjolover; Updated! I'm glad you're enjoying it!**

 **C123002; Keep on hoping! ;) Yeah she is but she didn't plan to, her head is just all over the place right now**

 **Guest; I hope you keep on loving it! Wow that's a good idea, you'll have to wait and see if that happens to Nico or not ;)**

 **clo7615; Thank you for your encouraging words and continued support! Means a lot to me :')**

 **raelauren; JUST YOU WAIT FOR THE UPCOMING CHAPTERS :O**

 **; December 15th has arrived! I'm not sure what OC stands for but hopefully someone can tell us? :S**

* * *

Annabeth and Luke luckily managed to tell the group on Monday about their new relationship before it became the latest gossip. The group were sitting at the bench for lunch and before her and Luke sat down, they decided to tell them. Most of the group seemed to take the news well; Connor joked that Connabeth could no longer happen, Travis slipped Nico a £10 note to which Nico gave Annabeth a mysterious smile that she did not want to question. Katie smiled and congratulated the both of them whilst Kelli's face was full of disgust. Annabeth pretended she didn't see it but Luke didn't quite have the same reaction, he left Annabeth's side and moved round the bench to confront Kelli but she simply got up and left. Luke shouted after her but she didn't respond, Katie told him not to worry and that she would sort it, so she got up and followed Kelli whilst Annabeth stood there clueless about what to do. She knew Kelli meant a lot to Luke and she was sure Kelli would come to terms with their relationship eventually, it was just going to take some time.

Time.

Ahh yes, something Annabeth definitely craved more of. Annabeth was worried that Luke and the rest of her history class might behave differently now they were a couple, but that wasn't her biggest concern. Annabeth was very aware that not only was she going to have to spend a lesson with her boyfriend but also with the guy she had cheated with. Annabeth was worried about how awkward it would be with Percy, after all they were trying to avoid each other. She still had so much guilt inside of her and it was tearing he apart.

To say Annabeth was dreading the next day would be an understatement.

* * *

Tuesday 3rd November

Annabeth and Luke arrived a little late to History, they got... A little carried away at lunch. The entire class wolf whistled as they entered and Annabeth felt her face physically go bright red, Luke's was doing the same. Annabeth's eyes scanned the room to see Silena laughing at the couple whilst Percy's head was kept firmly straight and fixated on Mr D. Grover was too busy getting a mountain of spitballs ready to notice what was going on.

"Nice of you to join us Miss Chase and Master Castellan" Mr D said as he perched over his desk and fiddled with his whiteboard pen,

"That's Master Luke to you Mr D"

"If that's what I had intended to say then I would have said it" Mr D remarked as he stood up straight and looked at the both of them.

Luke smirked and Annabeth elbowed him in the side before he could say anything else.

They made their way over to their seats, just managing to avoid a spitball from Grover and again Percy didn't acknowledge their presence.

"Today class, you will be starting your Greek presentations. This will be done in pairs"

The whole class murmured and started to arrange themselves into 2s.

"Don't bother" Mr D stated loudly "I've already gone through the trouble of doing it for you"

He started reading out a list and Annabeth anxiously awaited her name.

"Connor and Silena"

"Crap" Silena muttered under her breath but just loud enough for Annabeth to hear forcing her to smirk

"Grover and Juniper"

Grover choked on his spitball and Annabeth turned around to see him cough it back up. She felt a little sick after seeing that.

"Annabeth and"

This was it, Annabeth could work with anyone in this room as long as it wasn't-

"Percy" Mr D announced

Annabeth froze with her face full of fear. As Mr D carried on reading from the list she forced herself to turn around to see Percy staring at her wide eyed, obviously in as much shock as she was. It could have been worse, it could have been Luke and Percy she thought, trying to reassure herself with a positive outlook. Luke looked across reassuringly and gave her a smile which only seemed to increase Annabeth's worries. Annabeth knew Luke well enough to know that he secretly felt threatened by Percy.

"And finally, Luke and Tammi" Mr D announced, "Now I want you to move about and get into your pairs so we can discuss what each pair will present"

"No fair" Selina moaned "How come you get to work with someone you like" she said to Annabeth as she got up from her seat to go and sit next to Connor. Annabeth smiled polity, hiding her true thoughts.

As Luke got up he quickly kissed her on the cheek before heading over to sit next to the tall, blonde, blue eyed beauty named Tammi.

Annabeth took a deep breath and turned to Percy, "Are you moving or am I?"

"Why can't we sit where we are?" he asked stubbornly

"Because Junipers coming over to work with Grover so one of us need to move places"

"Well I'm not moving"

Annabeth glared at him, what was his problem?

"I don't mind swapping Annabeth" Grover quickly interrupted, clearly sensing that she was about to explode at Percy and they gathered their belongings and switched seats.

Mr D started talking again, going over the details of what they should include and then he started going around the pairs and assigning them their project.

"Percy whose your favourite God?" He asked once he came to them to see Annabeth and Percy not engaging in conversation like the rest of the class

"Easy sir, Poseidon"

Annabeth shot him a look like he didn't know what he was talking about, Mr D picking up on it turned and asked her

"And yours Annabeth?"

"This goddess wins by miles, Athena"

Percy pulled a similar face to the one Annabeth had pulled mere moments ago

"Then you will discuss the rivalry between them"

"Their rivalry?" Percy asked

"Mr D's referring to the competition held in order to name the city which was named ATHENS, you seaweed brain"

"Was that the best insult you could come up with? Seriously Seaweed brain?"

"Your brain is full of seaweed just like your favourite God" Annabeth replied sharply

"You let your pride get in the way, just like that silly old Goddess did against Archane" he remarked

"Oh sure you know that Greek tale but not the one we actually have to talk about" Annabeh muttered

"I expect an excellent presentation from you two" Mr D said before moving onto the next pair.

By the time class finished, all the other pairs had decided where to start but Percy and Annabeth had spent their time bickering.

"You realise we only have until the end of the month to do this right?"

Annabeth asked him after the bell rang and they packed up their belongings

"That's plenty of time" Percy stated

Annabeth's eyes narrowed onto his,

"Is he giving you a hard time Annabeth?" Luke asked as he walked over and waited beside her. Annabeth knew he was trying to help but he made the situation 100x worse. He wrapped his arm around her waist and out of the corner of Annabeth's eye, she saw Percy flinch and his hand mould into a fist. She quickly gathered the rest of her stuff and started walking toward the door with Luke still attached at her side, she flashed Percy an apologetic look but she wasn't sure he saw it that way as he glared back at her.

As Annabeth and Luke went round the corner of the classroom and into the corridor, they walked into a swarm of students. They all stopped talking and stared at Annabeth and Luke next to each other, Luke took hold of her hand and nodded at her as they confidentially walked past. A few students whispered to each other but Annabeth didn't take any notice, however she did notice Kelli standing at the end of the corridor. Their eyes met and Kelli took the other corridor on the right. Annabeth turned to Luke

"I've just seen someone I need to talk to, I'll catch up with you later"

And wiggled her hand free and ran down the corridor after Kelli.

* * *

Annabeth managed to catch up to her,

"Err Kelli can we talk please?"

"What you need my permission to talk now?" Kelli remarked

Annabeth stopped "Listen Kelli I don't know exactly what your problem with me is but I make Luke happy and I know you're important to him so you need to get a grip"

"I need to get a grip?" Kelli laughed sarcastically "I'm looking out for him! He doesn't deserve a slime ball like you as a girlfriend"

"How am I a slime ball?"

"Because you don't love Luke"

"Of course I do"

"Not like I do!" Kelli argued

It was at this point Annabeth noticed that students seemed to have gathered in the corridor and stopped to listen to her and Kelli's argument as they gasped at Kelli's revelation.

"You love Luke?" Annabeth questioned

Kelli looked around at the students before facing Annabeth, Annabeth could see the fear and embarrassment in Kelli's eyes. Kelli's eyes seemed to study Annabeth's face before deciding to accept defeat, she turned and pushed her way through the students and vanished out of Annabeth's sight.


	30. Chapter 30 Return of the Library

**It's an exceptionally short chapter and I'm so sorry about that! Been really busy and it's Christmas so I thought I better give you something! I will try to make the next chapter longer.. I'm not sure when you'll get the next chapter but hopefully it will be soon!**

 ** _SeaweedbrainWisegirl101_ ; It's good to hear you're enjoying it! Don't worry I still have a few more chapters in mind ;P**

 ** _Raelauren_ ; Well... Is this better? ;)**

 ** _Guest_ ; Cut Annabeth some slack, Percy was also in the wrong!**

 ** _Blake Jackson_ ; Christmas came early for you last chapter then ;) Hopefully you'll enjoy this one...**

 ** _RubesRJW_ ; I'm glad I made your day last chapter!**

 **So only thing left to say... Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful day and again I'm sorry this is a short chapter and I won't publish the next one until I have at least 3,000 words? Does the sound like a good deal?**

 **...**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Friday 12th November_

10 days had passed since Kelli's secret got out. Kelli had kept her distance from the group, Annabeth hadn't seen her since their argument in the corridor. It was unclear whether Luke knew about what had happened or not, he never brought it up to Annabeth but she could tell from his body language and the way he was acting that he missed Kelli. He had become quieter around the group and was spending most of his free time working with Tammi on their history project rather than spending it with Annabeth.

During lunch Annabeth found herself in the back of the library, she decided if Luke was dedicating all his time to his History project then she should do the same. Her history books were spread out across the table with a blank notepad infront of her. She stared at the pages but none of the information was going into her brain, she was distracted, unable to focus and for the first time, she had no clue how to handle a situation. It was a lot more complicated than a love triangle now.

Kelli and Luke.

Luke and Annabeth

Annabeth and Percy.

Percy and Rachel.

It's her and Luke, she reminds herself. She loves Luke and Luke loves her...but did part of Luke love Kelli aswell?

This was an unintentional cruel game being played and it was a constant battle of their heads vs their hearts and she didn't like it. Annabeth was abruptly interrupted from her thoughts when someone slammed their books on the table and slouched in the chair opposite her.

"I'm surprised to see you here" she admitted, she didn't need to look up from her blank notebook to know who it was.

"Only subject I like, thought I might aswell try and get a good grade" he replied

"How noble of you" she stated sarcastically,

"Look" Percy spoke forcefully "I'm sorry but you were the last person I wanted to be partnered with and the last person I expected to be partnered with"

"Snap" Annabeth answered sharply

"So we're both in the same boat, we don't want to work with each other-"

Annabeth stopped listening after he said 'we're both in the same boat', it reminded her of when she talked to Leo about how they both had feelings for someone but couldn't have them. He told her they had to wait to be rescued. Annabeth studied Percy as he continued to talk, his jet black hair was messy, half of his collar was sticking up from his navy shirt and his eyes were dancing around the room. Even though he looked like a mess, she felt warm inside just by looking at him and just for a second, all the resentment she had for him vanished and strong feelings were beginning to resurface.

"Are you even listening to me?" He released a heavy sigh afterwards.

She gave him another intense eye over before answering "Of course I am"

"Are you sure? You seem distracted" his voice was soft and caring

"I'm just trying to think about how this is going to work"

"You can write about Athena, I'll write about Poseidon and then we'll present together" Percy suggested

Annabeth gave it some thought before deciding it would be better to work with Percy rather than individually, besides she wanted to check his work was the same level as hers

"I disagree, we should work together" she told him "We both write about each God together"

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Won't we cause more trouble than it's worth?"

Percy was probably right and Annabeth hated it when he was right but she knew that this project needed them to work on it together, besides it would be nice to spend time with him where they actually have something to focus on rather than the chemistry between them.

"So how are we going to do this?" Annabeth asked as she relaxed into the back of her seat, she could see his stupid brain trying to work out a plan

"We can't be alone" Percy whispered "Has to be a public place so we can't be...tempted"

"I meant how are we going to do the work dummy"

"I mean it Annabeth, I can't be tempted by you. No study sessions in our rooms"

Annabeth leaned forward and watched him shift in his seat

"Fine, where should we do it?" She questioned

Percy's face went bright red with embarrassment, Annabeth was confused as to why before she replayed her words in her head "Oh god" she said loudly before covering her mouth with her hands when a few students shh'd her from around the corner

"Oh gods" she whispered "That's not what I meant"

"Err, so how about we do it in here?" Percy asked quietly as he tried to change the subject "The work I mean" he added quickly

Annabeth recovered from her embarrassment "Yeah that sounds good" she managed to say

"We can meet here every lunch" Percy prompted

"Great, shall we start now... Or have you got somewhere to be?" Annabeth asked nervously

Percy's head raised ever so slightly and they looked into each other's eyes, her eyes studied his which seemed to be mirroring hers. She imagined her eyes then turned into pleading grey eyes as she watched the change in his sea green ones and they appeared more daring.

"I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be" he smiled and her lips simultaneously moved into a smile aswell.

Percy moved his chair round the table next to hers and they began to study the books and scribbled away with notes on what to include in their presentation.


	31. Chapter 31 Head Spinning

**SORRY**

 **SORRY**

 **SORRY**

 **SORRY**

 **I'M GOING TO SPARE MY EXCUSE AND GET STRAIGHT INTO THE REVIEWS AND THE CHAPTER**

 ** _pjolover_ \- Thank you so much for your review! That really meant a lot to me! I'm sure you could write a story just like this!**

 ** _Ruzsian_ \- Oh My God you referenced friends! You're awesome! This chapters longer don't worry ;)**

 ** _Guest_ \- Now I'm not going to lie Guest, when I first read your review it pissed me off. I was like whoa there _guest,_ don't tell me what to do but then I re-read my story and ended up here...You're totally right. I am dragging this out so I've sped things up a little. The last part was going to happen in a later chapter but I've took your advice and adjusted the story a little, so I hope you enjoy :)**

 ** _Guest_ \- Thank You guest! Hopefully I have!**

 **RubesRJW - Totally late reply but Happy Christmas and hope you had a good New Years!**

 ** _raelauren_ \- I'm glad you think so!**

 **Seaweegirl1218 - You are one of my original groupies then ;) Hopefully you won't mind if I kill you a little more?**

 **ALSO LESS THAN 3,000 WORDS BUT EVENTFUL ENOUGH TO MAKE UP FOR IT.. I think?**

* * *

Her and Percy appeared to study for what seemed like hours but in reality it was merely the remainder of lunch which totalled to half an hour. Percy had some great knowledge about the God of the Sea however became very defensive when Annabeth pointed out his flaws and quickly turned around and talked about Athena's flaws which Annabeth shut down just as fast.

They had made an excellent start on their project... Percy had written down that Poseidon should have became the patron and it was only because the Greeks really like olives that Athena was chosen. He even attempted a drawing to go alongside it.

Whilst Annabeth had written down more serious and constructive notes such as Athena and Poseidon have never properly got along since the competition, however this could also be due to Athena catching Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful.

The bell rang and they gathered their stuff,

"Are we doing this again tomorrow?" Annabeth asked whilst still sitting down

Percy was already stood up and hesitated before answering "How about we stick to the weekdays? Treat ourselves to the weekend off?" He said as he stuffed his notebook into his rucksack

"Yeah.. Sure... I'm seeing Luke anyway and I'm sure you have plans with Rachel"

There was an awkward silence once they both finished packing their belongings and Annabeth looked at him awaiting an answer,

Percy looked up blankly, "I'll see you Monday" he responded as he flung his rucksack onto his back and Annabeth watched on as he made his way out of the library.

Annabeth stood there dumbstruck, they say girls are hard to read but boys are impossible. This guy was just full of surprises, she certainly couldn't deny that they had been through a lot of ups and downs. It was one hell of a rollercoaster with him.

The bell rang for a second time and Annabeth hurriedly picked up her bags and left the library.

* * *

Annabeth smiled at Silena as they walked into their Pyschology class together. Fortunately the class were being noisy which gave Annabeth and Silena the perfect chance to gossip,

"I saw Luke alone at lunch, where were you?" Silena whispered once they were in their seats. Silena was sporting a long emerald sleeved top with high waisted black jeans, she had accessorised via a gold necklace and a couple of gold rings on her fingers.

"I was in the library making a start on the history assignment. Wait, he was alone? You sure he wasn't with Tammi?"

"Yes I'm sure, Tammi was no where around. Were you with Jackson?" Silena raised one eyebrow sceptically at her

"Yes I was with Percy" Annabeth whispered back a little too forcefully

Silena slowly nodded and the teacher quietened the class down and started teaching but Annabeth was still confused about Luke, why was he sat alone? Why wasn't he working with Tammi like he said he had been?

She didn't get the chance to talk to Silena about it again as they were both furiously writing down what the teacher was saying and taking notes from the board.

Once the lesson was over Annabeth turned to talk to Silena but Silena was already standing and packing her stuff away,

"You need to find him and ask" Silena told her,

"How did you know what I was even going to say"

"You're textbook. Easy to read" Silena joked and flashed a sweet smile before resting her hand on Annabeth's shoulder and lowering her voice. "So stop pretending you don't still have feelings for Percy aswell. To get over him you need to admit your feelings to yourself rather than burying them"

Annabeth stared at the table for a second before nodding in agreement, she knew Silena meant it in the nicest way possible but that didn't make it easier to hear.

Silena hurried off out of the classroom whilst Annabeth slowly put her stuff in her bag, the classroom was empty and all Annabeth wanted to do was sink back into her chair and think for a little while but she knew that would get her nowhere. So she reluctantly slid her bag onto her shoulder and exited the room before heading to her next lesson.

* * *

Her Architecture lesson flew by and before she knew it, the lesson had finished. Annabeth went back to her room and flopped onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling and put her hands on her forehand in frustration and confusion. A moment later and Piper walked in and dropped her stuff by her bed before laying next to Annabeth, they remained like that for 5 minutes before Piper decided to speak,

"Are we going to talk about this?"

"Do we have to?" Annabeth asked innocently

"No, no.. Just thought it might help clear your brain" Piper replied

"I want to tell you Pipes, I really do but I don't think you can help me with this one"

"Ok, we can just continue to lay here in silence until you figure it out"

"We might be here a long time, I don't even know what's going on in my head"

Piper grabbed her hand, Annabeth looked down at their hands before turning her head to look at Piper who was already looking at her,

"I'm here for you" Piper told her before squeezing her hand, a smile spread across Annabeth's face and she squeezed Pipers hand back to show her gratitude.

Annabeth had about 50 thoughts all swirling around her brain at 100mph and there seemed to be no sign of them slowing down. There was a knock at the door and her thoughts halted in desperation to know who was on the other side. Annabeth felt Pipers body weight shift as she moved off the bed to answer the door, she exchanged words in a hushed voice, Annabeth rolled her eyes as she knew who was on the other side,

"I give you permission to ditch me for your boyfriend" she shouted from her bed,

The voices stopped and Annabeth glanced over to see Jason standing on the other side of the door smirking whilst Piper stood there frustrated.

"I can't abandon you at a time like this" she argued

"I'll be fine, honest" Annabeth said with a smile

"Yeah, she's a big girl Pipes" Jason mentioned supportively, Piper playfully punched him in the chest and he pretended it hurt more than it did.

"Ergh get out already" Annabeth said jokingly

"Promise you don't need me?" Piper questioned

"GO" Annabeth groaned

Piper smiled at her before closing the door and going off with Jason.

Annabeth smiled to herself, she was glad those 2 had worked out their problems. They were a cute couple. She thought back to how they fixed their problems, they did it through talking to one another. Piper didn't just lay here and over think everything, they went out for a walk and talked about their issues and mended their relationship.

That's what her and Luke needed to do, they needed to talk. After all, she hadn't spoke to him in a couple of days and they certainly hadn't talked about Kelli announcing that she loved him, Annabeth needed to know where his head was at.

* * *

She opted to try his room first. She stopped just outside his door and took a deep breath before fixing herself up a little. Her stomach felt weird, she grabbed it with both hands in attempt to stop the feeling but it didn't work, she was nervous... Why was she nervous? She had nothing to be nervous about... Right?

She shook away the feeling and re-gained her confidence, he left hand falling to her side whilst her right hand knocked on the door. Annabeth waited a few moments before the door opened to blonde hair but it wasn't Luke's- it was his roommates.

"Err hey, is Luke there?"

"Sorry haven't seen him, you're welcome to wait if you want?" He answered

Annabeth nodded and stepped inside and sat on the edge of Luke's bed,

"Your Annabeth right? Luke's girlfriend?" He asked as he shut the door

"Yeah, sorry we haven't formally met have we?" She replied

"No, you were a little busy when I saw you" The roommate said as he sat on his bed

"Oh gods that was so embarrassing" she laughed along with Luke's roommate,

"Believe me, not the first time I've walked in on..." He stopped himself but it was too late he'd already said too much, there was an awkward silence in the air as Annabeth thought about how to respond,

"I'm sorry Annabeth, it wasn't supposed to come out like that"

"It's ok, he's told me about him and Thalia and that they were a thing... It's not like he brought other girls to his room and kissed them"

The guy froze for a second before nodding slightly but Annabeth didn't think too much of it.

"Can I ask you something personal Annabeth?"

"Depends how personal"

"Why are you with him? Everyone in the school hates him apart from a handful of people"

"Why are you his roommate?"

"I was on a trip over the summer with my mum that over ran so I lost my room and no one would share a room with this guy and I didn't want to judge a book by its reviews"

"Isn't it a book by its cover?" She looked at him sceptically but he simply shrugged,

"That metaphor wouldn't work. I'd heard what he did to Thalia, not looked at his face and judged him"

"So what do you think of him now?" Annabeth asked

"Looking at the Luke I currently know, I'd say he was a different guy to the one I'd heard about last year" he paused for a moment "And I think you have a lot to do with that"

Annabeth produced a big smile whilst replaying all the moments she's shared with Luke in her head.

"Now you've got to answer my question" the guy stated

Annabeth was about to answer when the door opened and they heard a voice,

"Hey Malcolm what's the plan for..." Luke paused when his eyes met her grey ones "Annabeth?" He asked shocked

"Hi" she said timidly

"I invited in her to wait, hope you don't mind" Malcolm expressed

"No, no" Luke hesitated, his voice softened "Of course not"

Annabeth stood up, "Can we go somewhere and talk?"

"Sure" Luke said, still in a state of shock. He dropped his bags by his bedside cabinet and waited by the door,

"It was nice talking to you Malcolm" Annabeth gently stated as she stood up from the bed,

"And you" he replied with a smile

Luke held the door open for her and they exited his room.

* * *

"Malcolm seems nice" Annabeth said after a couple of steps down the corridor

"Yeah he's a year older than us and is easy to get along with" Luke answered, Annabeth simply nodded and they fell into an awkward silence

"How are you?" Luke asked after they walked further down the corridor

"I was about to ask you the same thing" Annabeth responded,

He laughed to himself "Yeah I'm good thanks"

Annabeth looked at him suspiciously, analysing his face before answering "Well that's good, I'm fine by the way"

"You're looking fine" Luke quickly replied before wolf whistling. Annabeth playfully smacked him on the arm to hide her embarrassment, she was only wearing black skinny jeans with a white vest top and a blue and black checkered shirt- wasn't exactly like she was dressed to impress. Luke on the other hand looked incredibly hot with little effort, he was also wearing black jeans but with a blocked long sleeve topped; the main white block was tightly fitted around his chest and his muscles looked big in the maroon long sleeves. His hair was neither messy or tidy, he'd been growing it since they first met and now it was a longer on the top, with shorter sides and back.

They walked down the steps in a comfortable silence, everyone else was heading into the canteen for tea. Annabeth and Luke looked at each other and without saying a word came to the same agreement, they walked into the canteen, stood in line and waited to get some food before taking it up to the terrace.

They placed their trays on the bench and sat opposite one another,

"So how's your history project going?" Annabeth asked as she picked at her bread

"Great, me and Tammi have been working really hard on it"

"Well that's good" she said slyly

"How about yours?" He asked before shoving a forkful of lasagne into his mouth

"Well me and Percy-" she expected to see Luke stiffen up as she said his name but he didn't, she was wary of his behaviour but decided to continue "-Made a start on it, I'm sure once we work out our differences it will all come together"

"Your differences?" Luke questioned, his eyes glued to his plate

"Yeah he's team Poseidon and I'm team Athena"

"Of course he'd be all for the King of the sea, he's wet behind the ears"

"Luke you can't say that" Annabeth exasperated

"Why can't I?" Luke asked defensively

"Because at least I've seen him, this is the first time I've seen you in 6 days!" Annabeth's outburst resulted in them both putting down their cutlery, Luke was looking to the side of him whilst Annabeth was intensely staring straight at him waiting for his response.

After he thought about what to say he shifted his eyes onto her,

"Annabeth I'm sorry, I've been-"

"Busy with the project, yeah I got the texts Luke." She snapped at him, he looked guilty but she wasn't going to stop there and let him smooth talk her into believing it was her fault and that she was being needy,

"Except today, I got told you were by yourself at lunch"

"I wasn't alone, I was waiting"

"For Tammi?" She questioned

Luke looked at her with guilty eyes and shook his head,

"For Kelli"

Annabeth wasn't sure why but those 2 words stung less than she thought they would have, probably because of how he had been acting recently and his behaviour now, she knew there was more going on.

"Tammi and Kelli are roommates, Tammi was telling me how down she'd been and that she was barely eating. Tammi was really concerned about her"

He looked at Annabeth who hid her emotions and portrayed a blank face so he decided to carry on

"So last Saturday I decided to meet her and see if she was alright. She was in pieces Annabeth. I've never seen her like that. It pained me to see her like that"

A sense of dread washed over Annabeth, she knew exactly why she hadn't seen him in 6 days and where this conversation was heading but allowed him to continue.

"Seeing her for lunch today only confirmed my thoughts. I need her in my life Annabeth. She's my best friend, my rock...my soulmate. I didn't realise it until I'd almost lost her but I love that girl, I love everything about her. Don't get me wrong, I did love you but it's nothing compared to the way I feel about Kelli"

Annabeth wanted to feel upset, even lost but she was relieved, she was glad she didn't have to tip toe around everybody and their feelings towards Luke anymore.

"I'm sorry Annabeth, I had a great time with you and at least it hasn't ended messy. We can still be friends" Luke told her

"Thank you Luke.. For telling me the truth, you could have lied but you didn't"

"I promised myself that I would be good to you. I intend to keep that promise for aslong as I can" he spoke softly

Annabeth gave him a smile before standing up "See you around Luke" and she walked past Luke leaving him alone on the terrace with 2 plates full of lasange to clean up and headed back to her room where she would wait for Piper and tell her everything.


	32. Chapter 32 Happy, Annoyed and Stressed

**Wow. I wasn't expecting that reaction! You guys really did dislike Lukabeth and are truly Percabeth fans! Just have to wait and see what happens in the upcoming chapters...**

 **Random Reviewer;** _First of all I love that you called yourself Random Reviewer! Thank you so much for calling me an awesome writer- means a lot! Hope you enjoy the chapter!_

 **BlueCupcakes2208** ; _Here you go my blue friend!_

 **pjolover** ; _Hey no problem! Hope you enjoy this one just as much!_

 **C123002** ; _You asked and I deliver... A small but cute section anyway!_

 **MehScrewIt** ; _THANK YOU! I have been waiting for someone to see that side of Luke!_

 _Fun fact- I was actually going to make him into an arsehole and actually cheat on Annabeth but I couldn't do it!_

 **rubesrjw** ; _Haha I'm glad you thought so! We'll just have to wait and see ;)_

 **Ashley** ; _It's an awesome idea but I'm not sure if Annabeth could really wake Thalia from her coma...spin the bottle is an insanely awesome idea but I think I'll save that for a little later on!_

 **Blake Jackson;** _You're forgetting a small, insignificant detail... He's still with Rachel!_

 **Ruzsian** ; _Nobody knows... Except me of course mwahaha!_

 **annerrr** ; _You also forgot about the red head formally known as Rachel!_

 **raelauren** ; _Pfffttttt it was a plot twist.. You had no idea ;) Glad you enjoyed it though!_

 **Unknown** ; _R-A-C-H-E-L!_

 **I KNOW SHE'S NOT THE ORACLE IN THIS BUT SHES STILL IMPORTANT GUYS**

 **I'M GOING TO PUT YOU ALL IN A CORNER, FORCE YOU TO READ THIS CHAPTER AND MAKE YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DID...**

* * *

As Annabeth walks back to her room she smiles at the other students who linger in the hallway and says hello and gives them a wave, they probably think she's insane but instead she's happy. Happy that she no longer had this weight on her shoulders. Of course part of her was going to miss Luke but she knew in her heart that she didn't love him, he showed her affection that she hadn't experienced before and that was it, there was no love there, not really.

She got to her room and immediately reached for her phone to text Piper

 _'I'm ready to talk, come back to the room asap'_

Her phone made a loud swoosh noise indicating it had sent and then Annabeth heard a 'Ping' on the opposite side of the room. She wandered over to where the noise had come from, her phone still in her hand, to see Pipers phone on her bed. Of course she didn't take her phone with her, Annabeth thought to herself. She strolled back to her side of the room and laid on her bed deciding she'd have to wait until Piper returned, which could take hours- When an idea popped into her head, she quickly pulled up her contacts and wrote a text

 _'Come to my room and bring Piper with you'_

Again her phone made a loud swoosh noise so she placed it on her bedside cabinet before picking up her iPod and putting her headphones in. Annabeth scrolled through her songs before selecting 'Droplets' by Lewis Watson. She pushed her pillows behind her and sat up straight and just listened to the lyrics. She was on the chorus when the door burst open and Leo nearly fell on he floor followed by Piper but they just managed to find their balance in time.

"What the hell?" Annabeth asked as she unplugged her iPod and turned to sit on the bed with her feet hanging over the edge

"I got your text" Leo panted

"That didn't mean almost break the door in the process Leo" Annabeth laughed

"And he practically dragged me out of my seat and up the stairs" Piper blurted

Annabeth raised her eyebrows at Leo as he stood up straight, recovering from his deathly experience. He simply shrugged "I thought it was an emergency, I don't regret my actions" at that point Annabeth saw a killer look in Piper's eyes and quickly got off the bed to intercept her.

* * *

Once Annabeth calmed Piper down and managed to get her to be civil with Leo, they sat down on the bed. Annabeth sat cross-legged up the top of the bed with the pillows on her lap, whilst Piper and Leo sat on either end of the bed with their feet dangling over the edge.

"Spill and it better be good, I don't want to have nearly lost my arm for nothing" Piper said directly at Annabeth. Annabeth's hands fiddled with the pillows for a second before she glanced at Leo and then at Piper "Me and Luke broke up"

Piper had a wicked grin on her face that kept growing with every second whilst Leo looked like he was ready to go and pound Luke.

"How? Why?" Piper asked ecstatically before trying to cover up her excitement by adding "Wait, are you ok with this?" in a concerning manner.

Annabeth smirked, she wondered if she had looked that happy when she was walking back to the room after it had happened "It was a mutual decision, he realised he loved Kelli more than he loved me and I... I didn't love him"

"That son-of-a-bitch" Leo muttered "How could he love anyone more than you?"

There was an awkward silence as they all absorbed Leo's words,

"Percy" Piper whispered as she inhaled a large breath, Annabeth stared at her before bringing her knees up and burying her head on the pillow now balancing on them.

"You have to tell him" Piper announced

"I've got him on speed dial. I bet he'll be here even quicker than we were, not that it's possible because I'm insanely quick, I'm like the flash or dash from the Incred-"

"LEO" Piper interrupted whilst glaring at him

Leo winced a little "Sorry. Off topic. Point is you should tell him."

"No" Annabeth argued before pulling her head upright again "We've just started our history project and I don't want it to get all awkward again. Besides it doesn't change anything, he's still with Rachel"

Leo and Piper exchanged quick glances and Piper opened her mouth to say something but Annabeth continued to talk

"You have to promise that you won't tell Percy"

"But-" Leo tried to say

"Promise" Annabeth said forcefully

Piper and Leo reluctantly promised that they wouldn't tell Percy.

"So what now?" Leo asked

"What do you mean what now? Nothing now. Now I enjoy being single for the first time since I've been here"

* * *

Saturday 20th November

Annabeth had enjoyed the single life for a total of 8 days now and she could honestly say that she felt no different. Maybe that was because the only people who knew she was single consisted of her ex, her roommate/best friend, her other best friend and Annabeth assumed her ex's new girlfriend but she wasn't 100% certain. No one seemed to notice in history but Annabeth guessed that was because everyone was working in their pairs on the assignment therefore occupied with other stuff rather than her love life- which she appreciated. Annabeth was thankful regarding her decision in not telling Percy because they were getting along and working together nicely.

That morning, around 10, she went for a run through the school grounds. Annabeth ended up taking a break when she found herself at the bunker she had been taken to when they had their paintball tournament at the start of the school year. She opened the door and sat down on the stone cold floor taking in how space-full it actually was when you didn't try to cram 100 odd teenagers in it. She glanced at the wall opposite, carefully studying it before brushing herself down and going over for a closer inspection. She brushed her fingers against the bricks before finding the one she was looking for, it was a little loose like someone had recently pulled it out. Annabeth pulled the brick out and saw the blue ball sitting inside of it, she picked it up and examined it. She looked closer at the golden rim to see an engraving 'P.J' - That cocky son-of-a-bitch Annabeth thought, just because he'd won it twice didn't mean he had the right to engrave his initials on it. Annabeth went to place the ball back in its place within the brick when she saw a silver leaf. She picked it up and turned it over to see 'W.G' engraved on the back. Annabeth rattled her brain trying to think of someone with the initials WG but the only person she knew beginning with a W was Will and she no idea what his last name was, she'd have to ask Nico.

Nico.

That's someone who hadn't crossed her mind in the last few days, she hadn't seen him since her and Luke broke up. She'd have to make some time to hang out with him, he was a nice guy, little anti-social sometimes but that wasn't an issue. She put the leaf and the ball back before sliding the brick into the hole and continuing her run back to the school with her mind still on the silver leaf, she was certain that it had something to do with Percy and she would get to the bottom of it.

Annabeth returned to the school, quickly had a shower and slipped into some jeans and an over sized ruby red hoodie. She wrote Piper a little note as she'd forgotten to take her phone again,

' Library

X '

And left it on Piper's pillow. Piper was out shopping with Leo for Christmas presents along with an adult chaperone known as Coach Headge. Jason had quickly declined the invite knowing all about Pipers shopping habits. Piper had attempted to persuade Annabeth to join but Jason had already given her the heads up so stated that she was too busy with the history project. Leo had no choice in the matter because Piper reminded him that he nearly pulled her arm out of her socket.

* * *

Annabeth picked up her books and walked to the library. When she got there she walked straight to the back to her usual spot, only to be shocked to see someone else already sitting there, wearing a jumper she was sure she'd seen before. She reluctantly placed her books opposite them and pulled a seat out and sat down. Before she opened her books she stared at the person opposite her until she plucked up the courage to talk to them.

"I thought we weren't doing this on weekends" she whispered hastily

He put his pen down and shifted his head to look at her,

"I could say the same to you"

"Shouldn't you be swimming or running or planning a party or anything other than being here?" Annabeth asked forcefully

"Why can't I be here?" He questioned playfully

"Because this is where I am"

"But I was here first" He pointed out

"You could have sat anywhere in the library but you chose my spot"

"I like sitting here" he simply answered

"Percy" she said aggravated

"Yes Annabeth" he answered with a sarcastic troublemaker smile

She was lost in his sea green eyes before she looked down and studied his jumper, sky blue with white text printed on the front 'The Dam Snack Bar'. She then realised where she'd seen it before, it was the jumper Rachel wore when Annabeth first arrived at the school. Percy saw the look in Annabeth eyes and looked down at his jumper and mistook it for admiration "Like it? I got it at Hoover Dam, we went in the summer last year me, Grover, Thalia and... Rachel" he almost didn't say the last name but he forced it out. Annabeth knew she should probably comfort him about Thalia, after all she was still in a coma and it sounded like they were close but she n what she knew. Rachel had worn that jumper at the start of the year.

"I've seen it before" she told him

"Grover's got one, so has Thalia..." He fell silent

"And Rachel?" She asked and he became incredibly awkward before answering,

"She borrows mine"

It hit her like a tonne of bricks when she thought about them being together. She felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. The thought of him being with her over summer outside of school was unbearable. Annabeth nodded slowly before opening her books to try and avoid conversation by putting her head down to try and start some work but Percy quickly stopped her.

"Annabeth" he whispered softly

She looked at him before deciding she needed to remove herself from the situation before she blurted out that she and Luke had broke up.

"I've just remembered that I need to go talk to Nico" she said as she closed her books

"Can't it wait?" Percy pleaded

"No it absolutely cannot" she told him before leaving him there with work to do.

* * *

Annabeth quickly dumped her books in her room and went outside to the back of the school where she used to hang out with Luke hoping Nico was there. Fortunately he was, along with Will.

"Hey Annabeth" Will called out

"Hey Will... What's your last name?" She asked

"...Solace..." He said a little stunned

"Usually that's not the first thing you ask in a conversation" Nico pointed out

"I know I'm sorry, got a lot on my mind" Annabeth answered as she sat down

"What's so important about my surname?" Will questioned

"I found an...item...and its engraved W.G"

"Not mine" Will admitted

"I don't know anybody with those initials" Nico stated

"Great" Annabeth moaned

"Are you alright? You seem a little stressed" Nico observed

"We heard about you and Luke" Will added and Nico shot him a death look

"I mean, how are you guys? Still blossoming birds?" He quickly added and Nico just rolled his eyes.

Annabeth laughed it off "I'm fine, thank you for asking"

"You're still stressed" Nico told her,

Annabeth sighed "Like I said, got a lot on my mind"

"Anything we can help with?" Will asked trying to be helpful

"I think this is something only time can help with" Annabeth said with a smile


	33. Chapter 33 Ladies and Gentlemen, Present

**So I'm going to be honest with you guys... I had no time to write during the week and I was struggling with an idea for this chapter as a result I have literally just finished and I started at half 7! So I apologise for any spelling mistakes, grammar etc because I haven't checked it all through.**

 **I'm working on the next chapter right now and it will be MAGNIFICENT.**

 **Also I researched and couldn't find any reference to when Leo has a birthday so for the purpose of this story it is the 4th of December.**

 **bubbleblob888; _Thank you so much! Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter too xx_**

 **tobias4ever1613; _This chapter hints at the truth but you'll have to wait for the next one to know for sure_**

 **Anonymous; _Added! Added!_**

 **BlueCupcakes2208; _I'll try harder next chapter I promise!_**

 **Blake Jackson; _I generally fear for me life right now! But nice theory you have there ;)_**

 **Owlover1; _Haha awesome! Well here's more!_**

 **raelauren; _You guessed right... I'm not going to tell you yet :P_**

 **Random Reviewer; _Thank you! This one is no where near as good as the last chapter, it's more of a transitioning chapter... I needed to somehow get from where I was to Leo's birthday and have them give the presentation!_**

 **Anonymous 3.0; _I like that you're anonymous 3.0, almost like the anonymous 1.0 and anonymous 2.0 weren't good enough haha! And I usually update on a Sunday, but I am trying to write during the week so I can upload chapters quicker!_**

 **Guest: _Don't worry I still plan to write a few more chapters!_**

 **Awesome; _You seem pretty confident about that!_**

 **Ruberjw; _sorry! This one is less cliff hangy! *produces halo and an angel smile*_**

* * *

Tuesday 30th November

The last 10 ten days had flown by. Annabeth and Percy had met every weekday at lunch as originally planned, to do their history project but they didn't talk much, just odd conversations. Annabeth found out about Athena's birth and asked Percy if they should include it, he just muttered and nodded. The same thing happened when Percy discovered how Poseidon, Zeus and Hades overthrew their father. She wasn't entirely sure it was relevant but Percy insisted it was so Annabeth reluctantly agreed. They were working together but doing it separately. Annabeth wished it wasn't the case but something had been off about Percy and she wasn't sure whether to ask or not.

No, It's not my place she convinced herself.

Until it got unbearable.

On Monday, Annabeth had found a cool picture of Athena and Poseidon and she lifted the book over the top of the desk to show Percy with her pen pointing at the picture ;

"Think we should get this enlarged and stick it on the poster?" She asked awaiting his response getting more agitated with every passing second

She was about to repeat herself when Percy responded without even glancing up from the book he was looking at "Sure"

That's when Annabeth reached her boiling point, she'd had enough and just let her mouth run without thinking, she dropped the book down over the one he was attempting to read but Percy didn't flinch

"What is your problem? You've been like this for over a week now. I thought you would have snapped out of it"

"Huh?" Percy questioned lazily

"You're not even listening to me. You don't even look at me anymore"

"I don't need to look at you to know you're talking about some random crap" He rudely pointed out

"What's wrong?" She asked

"Nothing"

"Don't lie to me"

"I'm not" Percy responded bluntly

"So what's wrong?" Annabeth questioned curiously

"Drop it Annabeth"

"No. Come on what's your problem? You on your man period or something"

"Leave it alone Annabeth"

"No Percy, tell me what's going on"

"Annabeth" he moaned but she guessed he was getting frustrated now. Annabeth knew if she kept pushing he would eventually tell her, even if it was out of spite

"You know partners are supposed to tell each other things" Annabeth muttered

Percy shot up out of his seat and stared down at Annabeth for a few seconds, his eyebrows furrowed and Annabeth could see the anger in his eyes. Instead of a calm sea, it was a raging storm and for a moment she thought about backing down but she decided against it. Instead, she pushed her seat back and stood up to match him. Percy sighed and looked like he was about to give in however he picked his books up and walked off leaving his part of the poster on the table with Annabeth. Annabeth sunk back in her seat before reaching over for her book and his poster before resuming their project which looked like she'd have to finish alone given that they would be presenting it tomorrow.

* * *

History quickly came around on Tuesday. Everyone sat with their partners and Annabeth looked around for Percy but couldn't spot him. She poked Grover on the back and leant forwards as he turned around to look at her with his big brown eyes

"Where's Percy!" She hissed at him

"Relax, he'll be here. He won't let you down" and he turned to face the front again and flashed Juniper a smile as he did

Annabeth rolled her eyes and she fell back into her chair, Pfft wouldn't be the first time if he did she thought but she opted to keep that to herself.

Silena and Connor were the first ones to present their poster. Silena spoke about the beautiful Aphrodite whilst Connor had focused on Hermes. Percy still hadn't arrived.

Next up was Luke and Tammi. Their assignment was on the Titan war, they were focused on the Titan side, their argument was compelling and for a split second Annabeth was almost convinced that maybe the gods should have lost. As Luke went and sat down he gave Annabeth a small smile which she politely returned. Annabeth looked around but Percy still wasn't here. More pairs were called up but Annabeth tuned out, instead she was planning how she would present this by herself.

There were 2 pairs remaining now to present and fortunately Mr D called up Grover and Juniper first and they debated the opposing side of the Titan war- The gods. Annabeth watched intrigued by the way they presented their poster, each taking it in turn to say a part and often finishing each other's sentences. Grover looked mesmerised every time Juniper said a word, almost like he was under a charm. The class clapped when they finished their presentation and as they took their seats Mr D announced the next pair to present- Annabeth and Percy.

Annabeth stood up and grabbed the poster, she had a quick scan for Percy but she knew he wasn't here. She sighed and made her way to the front alone.

"Nice of you to finally join us Mr Jackson" Mr D spoke firmly

Annabeth had just reached the front of the room and whizzed around to see Percy froze in the doorway. She looked at him with a mixture of surprise and anger but he simply didn't notice her eyes and instead concentrated on Mr D

"Just had to get something sir"

"And miss almost the entire lesson for it?"

"It's important"

Annabeth looked over at Grover who simply smiled at her and mouthed the words 'Told ya'

"So's this presentation, you'll be marked down a grade for this" Mr D announced

"So I'll get a B instead of an A? I'll take that" Percy smirked

"Get on with it boy" Mr D told him

Percy rolled his eyes and dropped his bag where he was and started walking down the rows whilst presenting at the same time

"So me and Annabeth were given Athena and Poseidon. Poseidon is God of the sea and Athena goddess of wisdom" he reaches the front of the classroom and stands beside Annabeth

"Athena is a daughter of Zeus, she literally sprung from his head in full armour and everything and therefore by blood, a niece to Poseidon and like every family, they all have their own problems. Athena is unforgiving and incredibly stubborn, she turned the weaver Arachne into a spider after the mortal woman insulted Athena and the Olympians. Athena is not a goddess you want as an enemy, Arachne learnt that the hard way" he joked, the class let out a small laugh and he continued again not giving Annabeth a chance to talk

"Despite her stubbornness she does have a softer side, if you have the right kind of bravery and good intentions she may even help you. Athena helped heroes on their quest, she helped Hercules, Bellerophon, Jason- the hero, don't confuse him with Jason Grace, who we all know is certainly no hero, I mean this one time we were climbing up a tree and-"

"Percy" Mr D interrupted and raised his eyebrows

"Right. Sorry. Athena even helped Perseus on his quest and helped him defeat Medusa. Point is- get on the right side of Athena and you'll be fine, piss her off and you get turned into an ugly 8 eyed creature"

Even Annabeth had to smirk at that comment. She was impressed by much he knew about Athena, not only had he listened to everything she had said but he'd also remembered it. He took the poster from Annabeth's hands and as he did, silently muttered to Annabeth "Your turn to say nice things about Poseidon now"

Annabeth smiled at him and took a step forwards,

"As you know Poseidon is the God of the sea. He received this title when he and his brothers overthrew their father. Zeus took the sky, Poseidon the sea and Hades the underworld. Poseidon was moody by nature: his temperament was unstable at best, and his emotional state often turned into violence. He could control the sea and would often be the cause of some catastrophic 'natural' disasters such as earth quakes and storms at sea. Like many of the male gods, Poseidon liked to flaunt his rugged masculinity and exert his power over women. He fooled around with Medusa in Athena's temple which Athena found hugely disrespectful and therefore punished Medusa by giving her serpents for hair and if she made eye contact with a man they would be turned to stone"

"A deal breaker for any guy" Percy interrupted

The class laughed whilst Annabeth shot him a look for interrupting but he gave her a charming smile which she ignored and focused her attention back onto the class and her part of the presentation.

"Poseidon and Athena's most famous disagreement was over a town now known as Athens. In order to be the patron of the town they both presented gifts, Poseidon produced a salt water spring whilst Athena produced an olive tree, as a result the people of the town voted for Athena to be their patron"

Percy placed the poster on the floor and quickly reached into his pockets, Annabeth turned to look at what he was doing along with the rest of the class. He pulled out miniature silver versions of the items that the two of them had seen in a photo in one of the books from the library,

"They must have really liked olives" Percy told the class as he held the figures in his palms for the class to see. They had been elegantly designed and Annabeth had to admit that the salt water spring looked more impressive than the olive tree but she wouldn't let Percy know that, although from the expression on his face he already knew. Percy placed the items on Mr D's desk and took on the role of concluding their presentation whilst the rest of the class were occupied at looking at the silverware as Mr D held them in his palms for the class to look at.

"Poseidon's main transport was a chariot pulled by horses. Funnily enough despite Poseidon's connection to chariots and ships, Athena was the first to make one of each. Now Annabeth-" Annabeth was immediately pulled out of her trance of looking at the silver figures and looked at Percy "-can back me up about this but we both took sides on our project. I was team Poseidon and Annabeth being the wise girl she is, was team Athena. This is why we presented opposing gods, because this project is supposed to open our minds and give us a different outlook. Throughout this project, I have learnt that these gods and goddesses overlap more than I originally thought. I mean their both stubborn for starters and they can hold grudges but when it's important they come together. They battled beside each other for the Titan war."

Percy met Annabeth's eyes and spoke directly to her "Athena's pretty bad ass and she doesn't let others dictate her behaviour. Poseidon has mood swings and sometimes they can be destructive but he doesn't always mean them to be"

"Despite their differences and similarities, they are and always will be, important to one another" Annabeth finished off.

The class clapped and just as the pair took their seats the bell went. "Class dismissed" Mr D announced whilst still examining the items in his hand "Mind if I keep these for a little longer Percy?" Mr D questioned loudly over the noise of the students muttering and packing up.

"No problems Mr D" Percy shouted back as he quickly walked to remove his bag from the flood of students trying to get through the door. Annabeth stretched her head from within the flood of students to see if he was waiting outside so they could talk about what had just happened but she couldn't see his raven black hair anywhere, as she exited the room she walked alongside Grover,

"Told you he wouldn't let you down" he said smugly

"You knew that's where he was?" She asked

"Course I did, I know everything about that guy"

Annabeth smirked, she thought she knew a lot but about Percy but he still manages to surprise her. "So do you know what was wrong with him these last few days?" Annabeth expressed with concern,

"Yeah but if he hasn't told you then I can't" Grover answered. That wasn't what Annabeth wanted to hear,

"Trust me he'll tell you, just give him time to sort his head out"

"Sort his head out?"

"Yeah it's really messed up at the minute"

They reached the cross roads of the corridor and Grover put his hand on her right shoulder and gave Annabeth a sympathetic smile. "Don't give up on him so easily" Annabeth smiled back at him and promised she wouldn't.

* * *

Annabeth went back to her room where Piper was eagerly awaiting, as soon as Annabeth opened the door Piper bombarded her with questions.

"How did it go? How late was Percy? He made it to the presentation right?"

"How did you know Percy was late?" Annabeth quizzed

"I was with him when he went to collect the miniature items. That's why he was late, I still can't believe Leo still hadn't finished it off, Percy nearly throttled him"

"Leo made them?!" Annabeth asked shocked

"Yeah, he's really good with making stuff like that. He prefers mechanical work though"

"Wow I didn't realise"

"Percy actually thought of it, said it would help bring the project to life"

"And to try and prove me wrong" Annabeth said with a light laugh as she remembered the look he gave her when he presented the items to the class. Then a thought popped into her head as she ran Percy's speech through her head, he called her wise girl. Could that be what W.G stood for?

"Has Leo been working on anything else?" Annabeth asked Piper desperately

"Don't think so?" Piper said, her tone suggested she wasn't sure if she was correct.

Annabeth was halfway out of the door when Piper had finished her sentence,

"Wait Annabeth we're supposed to go shopping now for a birthday present for Leo"

"Don't worry this will take 5 minutes...tops" Annabeth called out as she sprinted down the corridor.

* * *

She knocked on the door, "Leo" *knock knock* "Leo"

He opened the door wearing only blue denim shorts with a white top in his hands, Annabeth didn't mean to but she looked at his abs and she was surprised to see a six pack.

"If you wanted to look at my abs you should have just said" Leo joked before putting his top on

Annabeth went bright red before regaining her composure "err sorry about that, Leo have you made a silver leaf recently?"

Leo, obviously caught off guard stuttered out an answer "a...a...leaf... A leaf?" Before quickly recovering "Been making a lot of things recently, I may have just made one without even releasing. I don't think about what I make just let these beauties take control" and he held up his hands up and gave Annabeth a cheeky grin. Annabeth knew he was lying and he knowingly made a leaf but much like Grover, he wasn't going to tell her which meant it had Percy's name written all over it.

"Ok Leo I believe you but if I found out you did, I will hunt you down"

"Is that a threat Chase?"

"You bet" she winked and started to walk away

"You've got an outfit ready for my party on Saturday right?" Leo called out as he took a step outside his room to see her respond

She turned around to look at him but continued to walk backwards "Now what I'm about to going shopping for" she shouted back

"With Piper? Good luck"

"Thanks" she remarked.

* * *

Annabeth must have tried on at least a dozen dressed in this one shop before finding one she liked, she came out of the the changing room wearing an emerald green skater dress, she twirled in the mirror and looked at Piper for approval,

"It's beautiful don't you think?" Annabeth asked

Piper nodded "You look great but whilst you were getting dressed I found you the perfect dress"

Piper pulled out a dress from behind her back. It was chiffon short dress with a jewelled neckline and a small cut out feature to show her cleavage.

"Go and try it on" Piper shoved the dress in Annabeth's hands before pushing her back into the changing room.

When Annabeth stepped out Piper covered her mouth with her hands, she was speechless. Piper hit Coach Hedge who turned around to see Annabeth and he was speechless too.

"You...you look fricken gorgeous" Piper managed to finally say

Annabeth looked in the mirror and didn't recognise the girl in the mirror. The dress fitted her perfectly and flaunted off what little curves she had.

"I don't know Pipes... You really think this would be ok for Saturday?"

"Oh no, this isn't for Saturday, way too good for Leo's birthday. This is for New Years Eve" Piper admitted

"I won't be here for New Years Eve I'm celebrating it with dad"

"Oh... Well buy it to wear for your birthday party then? That's got to be coming up soon right?" Piper said trying to be optimistic

"July 12th"

"Well this dress might not be here for then so you should buy the green one for Saturday and this one now whilst you can"

Annabeth rolled her eyes before looking in the mirror again, she did look good in it even if she said it herself. And what would the harm be in buying it now? She was just planning for the future, which is always a good thing. She reluctantly agreed before heading back to the changing rooms to get changed back into her orange tee and jeans.

Annabeth handed the dresses over at the till and as the lady packed them into a bag, Annabeth turned to Piper "Aren't you buying anything?"

"I'm here for a present for Leo and to help you pick a dress and your Christmas shopping done"

"You think we can get that done all in one night?" Annabeth asked as she handed over the cash to the cashier

"Well we already ticket one of the list" Piper pointed out, Annabeth thanked the lady before wishing her a nice evening and taking her bags.

"Right, where to now?" Annabeth asked as they exited the shop and looked down the street, Coach Hedge was stood behind them texting on his phone.

"The handy store, perfect gifts for Leo in there" Piper aid excitedly as she looped her arm through Annabeth's.


	34. Chapter 34 Crazy Youngsters

**_BookLuver4ever7_ \- Thanks for your review! Here's the update :)**

 ** _Simply amazing_ \- You can say it backwards which is, dociousaliexpilisticdocious, but that's going a bit too far don't you think? Thank you though!**

 ** _MeatLoafed_ \- You're awesome!**

 ** _tovelevin_ \- I'll try not to kill Percabeth... But we'll see how nice I feel! Wow thank you for the compliment! Don't worry you're not the only one who was worried about Lukeabeth! And I don't think you're weird :P**

 ** _Anonymous_ \- Aww yay! #Percabethtobeornottobe?**

 ** _DM4_ \- I'll see what I can do...maybe I'll do it for next chapter? Also happy belated birthday!**

 ** _Ruzsian_ \- don't kill the idea, Leo totally has a six pack!**

 ** _Blake Jackson_ \- Updates and blue food are very important in this world! Ok so I think I know how to handle you... just throw some Percy Jackson and blue food at you!**

 ** _Random Reviewer_ \- How much sugar did you have last time you reviewed? MAN YOU WERE HYPED! Hope you've eaten lots of sugar in time for this review**

 ** _BlueCupcakes2208_ \- Thanks BlueCupcakes! Don't worry I plan to torture you for a little longer :)**

 ** _raelauren_ \- That's a good idea but whether it's the idea I've got going... Only time will tell ;)**

 ** _C123002_ \- Here's half of the party... More to come in the next chapter!**

 ** _bubbleblob888_ \- Here you go sugar!**

* * *

All that walking around had drained Annabeth, she was ready to just drop and sleep on the floor. Fortunately they had managed to get all the shopping done so she wouldn't have to do that again. Annabeth had even managed to buy Piper's Christmas present without her realising, she played it off as a present for one of her old school friends. When they returned to the school they thanked Coach Hedge before carrying the many bags back to their room. Both girls just dropped the bags by the wardrobe and crawled into bed. It was 9 o'clock and they were both knackered, besides they needed to get all the sleep they could to make up for the sleep they would lose from the party on Saturday.

* * *

Annabeth reluctantly woke up on Wednesday but she was full of optimism when she remembered that she no longer had to stress about the presentation. Annabeth also figured that meant her and Percy would return to normal, they didn't have the pressure of the presentation on their shoulders anymore, they could relax around each other.

She was wrong.

Dead wrong.

He went back to ignoring her: In their history lessons he joined in the conversations with Silena and Grover but never said a word to Annabeth, didn't even glance at her. As a result, Luke made conversation with Annabeth whilst the others were busy talking which, only made her even more thankful that her and Luke remained friends after their relationship ended.

* * *

During History on Friday, Percy stood up and walked past to talk to Mr D,

Luke leant over and lowered his voice "Does he know?" He asked once Percy reached Mr D's desk

"Know what?" Annabeth whispered back

"That you and me broke up"

"You guys did what?!" Silena and Grover both interrupted at the same time, Silena turned around to face them with her eyebrows raised and Annabeth could feel Grover's eyes burning the back of her head. The rest of the class looked over in their direction as Annabeth and Luke quickly responded together with "Shhh"

Annabeth cautiously looked up secretly hoping to see that Percy had turned around to see what was going on but he hadn't, he was still talking to Mr D. The class turned their attention back to their work and continued talking to the people around them which gave Annabeth and the others enough noise for their conversation to continue without anyone else eavesdropping.

"Jeez, shout a little louder next time I don't think Australia heard you" Luke remarked. Annabeth dazedly looked away from Percy before rolling her eyes at Luke's comment and then adjusted her seat to face Luke so she could talk to all 3 of them at the same time.

"When did this happen?" Silena asked desperately

"And why? Thought you guys were good?" Grover questioned with shock in his voice,

Annabeth briefly looked at Luke before answering "2 weeks ago now?" Her voice went higher towards the end as she spoke with uncertainty. Luke then opened his mouth to talk but Annabeth quickly interrupted fearing he was about to come clean about their break-up,

"It was mutual, we realised we were better off as friends" she said with a shrug at the end. She could almost hear Luke silently thanking her, they both knew everyone would turn against him again and Annabeth certainly didn't want that to happen. Annabeth could tell that Silena was desperate for more details but Percy turned around and started walking back to his seat. Grover and Silena went back to their work whilst Annabeth stayed in her seating position facing Luke but looked up to watch Percy nearing. He walked past without even glancing at her and sat in his seat and started scribbling away at his essay. He was ignoring her. It it wasn't obvious before, it was now. His eyes were focused on a particular spot when he walked down and even now, it looked like he was straining to keep his eyes on the page and no where else. Annabeth was so pissed off and she wanted him to know but she didn't want to have to tell him. She wanted him to notice that she was pissed off. So she moved her seat back to how it was originally facing, making sure to make a lot of noise as she did. Annabeth was tense; her lips were pressed together into a thin line, her eyes had turned into a scowl and she could feel that vibe spreading around her when she realised that the entire class had turned silent, she hoped Percy picked up on it. Before Annabeth could properly think her plan though she ripped out a piece of paper and as she stood up, she scrunched it into a ball and chucked it at Travis sitting on the opposite side of the room before quickly sitting down again. Travis got hit on the head and the paper ball landed on his desk, he immediately started looking around to see who threw it at him. He settled on Luke and threw it at him, Luke got hit in the head and proceeded to then chuck the ball back but aimed it at Connor. Connor seeing where the ball came from picked up the ball and threw it back at Luke however his aim was a little off and it hit Percy instead. Percy reached for the ball and scrunched it up hard in his hands, although he knew Connor had threw it at him, Percy threw it at the back of Annabeth's head. Annabeth felt a sharp pain but it quickly faded. She smirked to herself. Her plan had worked. Annabeth turned to face Percy but his eyes had already settled back onto his work. In frustration, she picked the ball up and threw it back at Percy a little too forcefully, not caring where abouts it hit him. She watched as it hit him on the cheek and she heard him let out a little grunt when it did, she suppressed a smile and was waiting for him to look up at her and laugh but instead she was surprised to see him walking over to the bin and drop the paper ball in there.

"Are you done disturbing the class Miss Chase?" Mr D asked with his eyebrows raised, having seen the whole incident. Annabeth swung her body back to face the front and stared at Mr D for a full minute before responding "Now I am" sarcastically through gritted teeth

Mr D simply ignored her comment and returned back to the computer. Silena turned around and looked at her with her head slightly turned to the side and her eyebrows furrowed. Annabeth looked at her a with a blank expression on her face. Silena was questioning her behaviour but right now Annabeth was too worked up to care.

The bell rang and Annabeth was the first one out of the door. Not waiting for any of her friends or to even hear if Mr D had anything to say. She desperately needed to get out of that room and away from Percy before she exploded.

* * *

Annabeth dumped her books and bag by her bed and went down to the common room. No one else was around so she slumped onto one of the sofas and put her face into the palm of her hands. She was feeling a hundred emotions at once and she was exhausted from it. Annabeth's phone started vibrating in her pocket, she sighed as she pulled it out to see the caller ID- Piper. Annabeth let it vibrate twice before she took a deep breath and answered

"Hello" Annabeth groaned

"What the hell are you playing at? Were you trying to make a scene in History?" Annabeth heard her drop her bags on the floor and she guessed it was by Piper's bed and apparently that's when Piper noticed that Annabeth was not in the same room "Where are you?" Piper questioned

"Common room" Annabeth bluntly replied

"Don't move me and Jason are on our way"

Piper hung up and within minutes the two of them appeared in the common room.

"What's going on Annabeth?" Piper said softly as she took a seat beside her

Annabeth studied Pipers face, she could see Piper was genuinely concerned for her.

"That wasn't you in history, I know that's not you" Piper paused for a moment "and I bumped into Silena in the corridor and she told me everything before you even attempt to lie to me. What has got into you?"

"It's Percy." Annabeth reluctantly admitted, she wanted to cry but she managed to remain strong "He's ignoring me, I was hoping I might have got his attention in History today but it didn't work. Now that our projects finished I thought we would go back to at least talking to each other but we haven't...he doesn't even look at me"

Piper and Jason exchanged nervous glances and it appeared like they were having their own silent argument. Jason sighed before opening his mouth "Percy...he's not himself at the moment... He's a little.." Jason paused searching for the word to roll off of his tongue "lost" he managed to say

"That's what everyone keeps telling me, why does everyone seem to know what's going on with him except for me?" Annabeth asked desperately

"Truthfully, he needs some space Annabeth" Piper told her "Not just from you but from all of us so it might be best to just leave him to his thoughts for now. I'm sure he'll return to his old self soon" Piper took hold of Annabeth's hand and gave it a light squeeze

"And you can't tell me what's wrong with him?" Annabeth pleaded, looking at Piper and then Jason.

"It's not our place to tell" Jason told her.

* * *

The next day, Annabeth went through her usual Saturday routine; she slept until 11ish, got up and when she finally got out of bed she went for a run, although, this time she avoided going through the forest. Once she returned she would have a shower and usually do homework but she'd been doing it at lunch times during the week so she had nothing to do after she got showered. Instead, she reached for her iPod, put her headphones on and grabbed a book.

Annabeth was so engrossed that she almost didn't realise Piper had crept in. Annabeth slid her headphones down to around her neck and closed her book, she only had a few more chapters to read until it was finished.

"Back already?" Annabeth asked

"You realise it's 7PM right?"

Annabeth checked her iPod to see the digits 19:00 staring back at her, had she really been reading for that long?

"You got everything set up by yourself ok?" Annabeth asked

"Actually" Pipers voice went high pitched and a little squeamish "I recruited Calypso... she really wanted to help"

"So you let Calypso help but not me?" Annabeth teased knowing Piper would feel incredibly guilty

"I wanted to keep it a surprise from everyone but she insisted on helping. I think it was more so she could gossip about Leo, she wouldn't talk about anything else. Quite annoying actually" Piper admitted

"Huh funny that" Annabeth joked, thinking about all the conversations she and Piper had about Jason.

"I have a reason to be obsessed" Piper responded

"If you say because you're in love I'm going to throw up"

"I was actually going to say because he's my boyfriend but now that you mention it..."

"ERGHHH" Annabeth growled and pulled her pillow over her head. Piper reached for her own pillow and chucked it at Annabeth who then retaliated by throwing it back. The girls gave each other a small smile

"You alright now?" Piper asked sincerely sitting on her own bed hugging the pillow

"It's not me I'm worried about" Annabeth admitted

"He'll be fine, Percy won't stay lost forever" Piper assured her

"Now let's get you changed into that gorgeous green dress you brought and you can help me with the final preparations of Leo's party"

"Deal" Annabeth smiled

* * *

Annabeth, Piper and Jason had managed to finish the 'final preparations' as Piper called them just before everyone started arriving. Jason was no help because he kept drooling over Piper, who, Annabeth had to admit, looked amazing. Piper was wearing a black jumpsuit and had accessorised with a golden necklace to go with her black heels which had a golden lining around the ankle. Jason didn't look so bad himself, he was wearing a sky blue shirt tucked into black jeans and some black leather shoes.

They had used the common room for Leo's party and they had managed to find the key to open the doors that led to the patio. Piper had decided to transform the common room into a ship; the flooring was already made of wooden floorboard and Calypso had managed to draw some exceptional pieces of the sky and sea on which were stuck onto the walls to add to the effect. If Annabeth hadn't of known better, she would have almost believed she was on a ship. Jason had got hold of some empty barrels so turned them upside down and put them around the room and Annabeth had placed alcoholic drink to sit on them.

At 9 o clock everyone who was supposed to arrive were now scattered around the room helping themselves to a drink. Annabeth thought it odd that the dress code was fancy when the theme of the party was on a ship. Maybe it's supposed to be like the Titanic and not a pirate ship.

"I've got the text! Jason hit the lights" Piper shouted frantically,

Everyone gathered in the middle of the room and stood silently as they awaited for the special guest

Annabeth could hear people talking on the other side of the door

"Why are you taking me in here? The party is in the pool right? I want to see some hot babes in a bikini" Annabeth easily identified it as Leo and rolled her eyes

"Yeah but I thought you, me and the boys could have a civilised game of poker first" Percy attempted to lie but Leo caught him out

"But there isn't a poker table in there"

"Look I wasn't supposed to tell you this and I was supposed to do it before I collected you but I left the birthday cake in here"

"Really Percy? You forgot the cake?"

Annabeth was on edge wondering if Leo has already figured it out

"You dumbo! That's the most important part of the party. Come on let's get it and I'll pretend I didn't see" Leo groaned as he opened the door.

"Surprise" "Happy Birthday" "Boo"

Were just some of the phrases Annabeth could identify when they all shouted at the same time. Thinking it over, they probably should have agreed on what to shout out. Though it didn't matter too much, Leo still looked surprised. They all remained still as Leo shouted "You got me" and started banging his chest where his heart was, everyone broke out into a small chuckle before separating into small groups and mingling around the room. Leo was patting Percy on the back pretty heavy and they were both producing big grins as Hazel and Frank approached them. Piper came up behind and stood next to Annabeth "You going to come over with me?" She asked as they looked across the room. Annabeth studied the small group that had circled around Leo and her eyes couldn't help but fall onto Percy, he was wearing a tightly fitted white shirt with his sleeves rolled up and he had black braces through the loopholes of his black trousers going over his chest. His hair was combed over to the side and gelled down. Needless to say, Percy looked elegantly handsome.

"I'll catch Leo a little later" Annabeth finally responded, her eyes then studied Leo, he was sporting the same style as Percy but, in Annabeth's opinion, looked no where near as good as Percy.

"You sure?" Piper questioned

"Yeah. Go. Go on and mingle" Annabeth assured her with a smile, Piper placed her hand on Annabeth's arm in a comforting manner before she walked over to join the group. Annabeth watched the way they all greeted Piper with a smile and the way Leo gave her a hug. Annabeth longed to go over there and be treated the same way, the way she was once treated before everything got complicated with Percy and before she started dating Luke. Annabeth noticed that there was a certain absence in the group and that's when she realised Rachel wasn't there. Confused, Annabeth twirled her head around the room but she couldn't spot the strawberry-blonde head. Maybe she's ill? That had to be the reason, Annabeth concluded, there was no way she would miss Leo's birthday.

Annabeth wandered over to grab a drink and spotted Silena sitting down on the sofa (The one Piper had quickly covered with a tacky white sheet to make it look like it was supposed to be there)

"ANNABETH" she screamed as she scooted over "COME AND SIT"

Annabeth smiled as she sat next to Silena "I want you to meet 'Charles'" she said poshly and pointed at the guy sitting on a barrel opposite them

"It's Charlie" he chuckled and reached his hand over and shook Annabeth's

"Don't I get an introduction?" The dark haired boy next to him asked

"Best till last" Silena winked

"Oi!" Charles said pointing his finger at Silena

"I'm kidding... Kind of..." Silena smirked

"Watch it missy" Charles joked

Silena just flashed him an innocent smile before introducing the brunette "This is Ethan" Silena simply said before she started impersonating a robot, repeating "He's a player. Avoid, avoid, avoid"

Ethan rolled his eyes "I'm not a player" he promised before flashing a smile at Annabeth, she wasn't sure why but his smile made her melt a little. Annabeth felt a body sit next to her on the left

"Saying your not a player is like saying grass isn't green"

Annabeth felt a shiver go down her spine at the sound of his voice. She knew who was sitting next to her and she felt incredibly uncomfortable. Annabeth could feel the tension in the air, but it wasn't just from her and Percy it was also between Ethan and Percy and she wasn't the only to notice

"Err hey Perc" Charles stated slowly

Did Percy realise that he'd sat next to her? Annabeth wondered

"Hi Charles, you doing alright?" Percy asked politely

"Been better" Charles answered as he sucked the last of his drink through his straw, there was an awkward silence amongst the group before Ethan broke it.

"I'm going to get another drink" Ethan said as he stood up "You want anything Annabeth?"

She felt Percy stiffen up beside her.

"I think I'll go find Leo now he's not as crowded and then I'll be right over" she told him with a small smile, Ethan simply nodded before walking off. Annabeth stood up gripping onto Percy's knee to push herself off and went to track Leo down.

She looked everywhere; she went up to every little group to see if he was mingling there, she looked outside and even checked the corridors but couldn't find him so she settled for getting another drink instead.

"Did you find him?" Ethan asked as she poured herself a cup of vodka and orange

"He's nowhere to be found" Annabeth replied after her cup was full, she looked at him and he smiled

"So what happened-"

"Between me and Percy?" Ethan interrupted "You sensed the tension aswell?"

Annabeth nodded before taking a sip of her drink and he sighed

"I have absolutely no idea, I have nothing against him and as far as I knew, he had nothing against me. He has never been like that with me. I mean I've flirted with Rachel a few times but he's never said anything to me. He understood flirting was just part of my personality"

"You've flirted with Rachel and he's never reacted?" She asked curiously

"Well yeah... I mean he'd tell me to shut up but it was always jokingly, he'd always laugh as he said it"

"Oh... You didn't over step the boundary with her tonight did you?" Annabeth asked trying to figure out why Percy would have reacted like that

"I haven't seen her to flirt with" Ethan answered honestly

Just then they were interrupted when someone came up behind Annabeth and picked her up and twirled her around

"It's my birthday not Ethan's! Flirt with meeeeee" Leo said as he whizzed Annabeth around in his arms

Annabeth couldn't help but laugh "My gift was for you to flirt with all the other girls for once"

Leo put her down "Worst gift ever"

Ethan and Annabeth couldn't help but laugh as he sulked like a child

"Now come with me" Leo said and took Annabeth's hand, Ethan started to follow

"Err not you Ethan... Sorry" he said quickly before tugging Annabeth behind him. Leo weaved them in between groups and round any barrels before they reached a door

"What's through there?" Annabeth asked once Leo let go off her hand

"My private party" he said with a smile

"I'm not a stripper Leo"

"Oh shut up Chase, just go through I need to find one more person" he opened the door and pushed Annabeth inside.

It was a smaller room and it was nearly pitch black with only a singular light in the room which fortunately gave enough lighting for Annabeth to see there were a couple of sofas with bodies already sitting on them Annabeth saw that Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Calypso were already engaged in a group Annabeth got nearer to the group she saw a line hanging above them with a couple of pegs in the middle. She looked around to see that there was a bench nearby, she wandered over to see a bunch of photographs sitting around, mainly the photographs were of the school but as Annabeth snooped through them she saw that a couple of them were groups of students smiling and laughing. Annabeth immediately identified the room as a black room where photos are left to develop. Annabeth left the photos on the bench and walked over and sat on the floor by Pipers feet "Anyone know what's going on?" She asked

"Who knows when Leo's involved" Frank, sitting opposite her, answered. The door swung open and Percy walked in followed by Leo, Annabeth and Percy made eye contact before he looked away and sat at the feet of Frank,

"Ok everyone on the floor" Leo announced as he shut the door. Everyone groaned as they slid off the seats and onto the floor, they formed a circle leaving a space between Percy and Annabeth for Leo. The circle that had formed went in the order of Leo, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Calypso, Hazel, Frank and finally Percy. From behind his back Leo produced an empty glass bottle and laid it flat in the centre

"Oh for gods sake Leo" Piper moaned

"This is why we're here?" Calypso asked angrily

"Uh guys it's my birthday, I do what I want, with who I want" Leo spoke proudly

"Come on man, really?" Percy asked awkwardly

Leo glared at him before turning his attention back to the group

"I'll go first" he announced

Leo spun the bottle quite harshly and it went spinning round, and round, and round before landing on Hazel.

"Come here sugar" Leo joked and Hazel just rolled her eyes whilst they both crawled into the middle of the ring

"Cheeks only!" Frank shouted out

"I agree" Calypso nodded

"Fine, first round is cheeks only" Leo groaned before giving a peck onto Hazels cheek. Frank had stretched his neck to make sure that was all. As they backed away they gave each other a small smile, Calypso glared at Leo and he held his hands up defensively.

"Alright Annabeth you're up next" He said once he got back to his spot

Annabeth spun it as hard as she could and just like Leo's, it went spinning and spinning until it finally landed on Jason,

"Rake it in Sis" Jason smiled as they both crawled into the middle

Annabeth could feel everybody's eyes on her especially Percy's. Annabeth gave him a polite kiss on the cheek and they quickly crawled back to their areas. Piper was the next to spin and she landed on calypso, the boys made out it was a bigger deal than it actually was.

"Your cheeks are so soft" Piper said once she got back

"Nivea moisturiser, you should try it" Calypso admitted

Annabeth and Hazel laughed whilst the boys all groaned but that quickly stopped when Jason spun the bottle and it landed on Percy. Calypso landed Frank and both Leo and Hazel were glued on watching their partners. Hazel kissed Piper's cheek, Frank got Annabeth and Percy's go meant he had to kiss Leo's cheek.

"Ok next round, a peck on the lips, if you land on someone twice, it's a proper kiss lasting 3 seconds"

"How can you land on someone twice? You only get one go" Jason pointed out

"If I spin and land on you, that's a peck if you spin and land on me its a real kiss" Leo replied

"Leo if you wanted to kiss me you should have just said" Jason laughed

Leo rolled his eyes and ignored Jason before spinning the bottle, Leo's go meant he had to peck Piper and Annabeth struggled to stop herself from smirking at the look on Jason's face. Annabeth's go, she spun it a little slower than last time and she ended up repaying the favour to Frank and gave him a small kiss on the lips, Piper also landed Frank and did the same. Jason got Hazel and Calypso landed Percy. Annabeth felt a tug in her gut, she wanted to look away but she forced herself to watch. Annabeth didn't want to watch Calypso kiss Percy, she didn't want to watch any of these girls kiss Percy. It's just a silly game she reminded herself before remembering that Percy was still with Rachel and that she shouldn't care about him this much anyway. The kiss was quick and they returned to their places and Hazel continued the game, she landed Leo and Frank stiffened up along with Calypso. Again, it was quick and over within a second. Frank spun and he had to kiss Jason, all the girls giggled before Frank took Jason's face firmly in his hands and planted a kiss on Jason. Both boys quickly wiped their mouths and pretended to throw up.

"Well at least I know I haven't lost you to Jason" Hazel laughed as she took hold of Frank's hand

"Shame, they would have made a cute couple" Piper joked

"FRASON" Leo shouted

"Oh My God I love it" Calypso admitted. They teased the boys a little longer before Percy took his spin, his spin was really quick and went round and round and round numerous times, Annabeth was anxious as she watched it slowing down before it landed on Calypso. Annabeth felt her stomach flip and she could feel her blood getting warmer

"This is a real kiss remember" Jason pointed out

Both Percy and Calyspo rolled their eyes before meeting in the middle of the ring. They locked lips for 3 seconds and those 3 seconds seemed to last a life time to Annabeth. They both parted quickly when Leo let out a loud cough that startled the whole room. Percy glanced at Annabeth but she refused to look at him.

"Full on passionate kisses now" Leo said smugly whilst rubbing his hands together devil like. He barely spun the bottle so that it landed on Calypso. Everyone moaned whilst he cheered.

"Cheater" Annabeth heard Calyspo mutter before Leo pulled her in for a kiss. They all turned away as it got pretty awkward. Once they had finished, Annabeth quickly spun the bottle, it went round and round until it slowed down and trickled past Hazel and Annabeth prayed that it didn't stop on Frank. No offence to Frank. Fortunately for her, it landed on Percy. They glanced at one other awkwardly before meeting in the middle, Annabeth took a deep breath and absorbed all of her surroundings before fixating on Percy's lips. She leant forward and closed her eyes and as soon as their lips touched she felt electricity flow through her whole body, her hands made her way to his cheeks and his did the same. Annabeth thought about slipping her tounge into his mouth but quickly decided against it when she remembered they were infront of everybody. She heard the door open but she was too busy enjoying herself to look or care who it was and she knew he felt the same because he kissed her more passionately and his hands stayed cupped around her face.

"What's going on here?"

They separated to see a familiar red head standing in the doorway.

* * *

 _ **THE PARTY WILL CONTINUE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER**_


	35. Chapter 35 Long Way To Happy

**_Anonymous_ \- That's actually an insane idea! I love it! ... Guess we'll just have to see what happens ;)**

 ** _alexiaroosenhaan_ \- BOOM updated**

 ** _percabeth4ever18_ \- Last Sunday I thought I'd finished it but I decided I wanted to change bits and write some more so you got it this week instead :P but I'm glad you love the chapters :)**

 ** _anonymous_ \- Drama drama drama! Chapters tend to be updated either the following week or the weekend after that so 1 or 2 weeks.**

 ** _Blake Jackson_ \- I think you're safe to swear, I've done it enough in previous chapters ;P**

 ** _wookiebeast01_ \- Chant it with me now PERCABETH PERCABETH PERCABETH**

 ** _Solangelofangirl_ \- Thank you very much! Here's the next one**

 ** _MeatLoafed_ \- Hopefully this one doesn't let you down!**

 ** _Username222_ \- updated :)**

 ** _Ruzsian_ \- Mind=blown**

 ** _BookLuver4ever7_ \- Maybe the penny has finally dropped ;)**

 ** _Rubesrjw_ \- drink away my thirsty friend**

 ** _Anonymous_ \- ... Ok you got me! He reveals...**

 ** _tovelevin_ \- Clearly you and me are going to have a fight then because I completely disagree! The fangirling side can be deadly! **

**QUEUE SIDE STORY ABOUT AUTHOR**

 **So me and my friends went to a festival and got there pretty early so we were stood right at the front. Many hours later and Union J were about to perform and were like meh they're OK like we're not too fussed about them, long story short we came out of there arguing about who George winked and waved at. One of my worst fangirling moments ever. (No disrespect to anyone who likes Union J or the band themselves)**

 **Anywhooo, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and think that I'm a magical Angel of a author.**

 ** _BlueCupcakes2208_ \- Rick enjoys his cliffies and so do I ;)**

 ** _Random Reviewer_ \- You seem a bit calmer than last time ;) Wow thank you, I honestly can't thank you enough for those kind words! Thank you so much for your belief in me! It means the world to me :) I imagine this is how Leo will feel when he wins he Oscar this year**

 ** _James_ \- Well James, do you mind if I call you James? Not everyone realises they're a hypocrite until they're in a situation which makes them a hypocrite. Annabeth certainly had no intentions of being a hypocrite and as for calling her a dumb b**ch, we all have moments in life where we do something dumb. I'm sure if your life was turned into a book there would be people screaming at you being like "WTF DUDE, THAT WAS SO STUPID" ... I know people certainly would at me...AND it makes for an interesting read :)**

 ** _clo7615_ \- Here you go sugarplum! I'd like to think this is just as good...have to see about that one**

 ** _raelauren_ \- OMG SO MANY CAPITAL LETTERS AND I CAN'T HANDLE IT! I'm glad you think it's your favourite one! Here's the next one...**

 ** _C123002_ \- This one's for you pudding! I hope you enjoy it**

 ** _jennyrawr_ \- Rawrrrrr Jenny! Sorry. Had to. Enjoy this chapter**

 ** _bubbleblob888_ \- I don't want to burst your bubble here, (HA- see what I did there, again, I'm sorry. I don't know what's come over me) but eventually it will end, and we are approaching the end of the tunnel.**

* * *

Time seemed to stop. Everyone had frozen as they looked over at Rachel. It was like a tennis match, everybody's eyes went back and fourth between Rachel and Percy - including Annabeth's. Rachel looked at Percy expectingly, everyone in the room held their breath as they waited for his response but when he didn't provide an answer, she turned on her heel and walked out. Everyone remained silent but released their breath where as Annabeth was still holding on to hers as she eyed Percy. He was sitting cross-legged and his hands were twirling around one another infront of his legs as if he was debating with himself about what to do. Annabeth knew what he was going to do and in her mind she was begging him not to. Percy waited exactly 3 seconds before making the effort to get up, he kept his eyes firmly infront of him and without saying a word, walked out. Annabeth sat there dumbstruck. He'd done it again. He had chosen Rachel over her. She had to watch him leave again to go after her.

"Maybe we should re group with the others now Leo" Piper suggested

"Err yeah that's a good idea" Leo answered, they all stood up except for Annabeth who remained on the floor. Piper and Leo exchanged a look, before quietly muttering to Jason. Hazel and Frank were the first to leave followed by Calypso and Jason who were heavily engaged in conversation and it almost seemed like Jason was ushering Calypso out of the room.

"Annabeth?" Piper said soothingly once the others had left. Annabeth didn't respond so Leo sat down infront of her

"You alright?" He asked, Piper knelt beside him.

"I don't know how to describe it" Annabeth replied keeping her eyes fixed on the floor, "My whole body just aches" she whispered, she felt like crying and she could feel the tears trying to break free but she refused to let them.

"You saw how he kissed me right? That wasn't just a spin the bottle type kiss" Annabeth said in attempt to justify how she was feeling. Piper gave her a pitiful look which Annabeth tried to oppose with a hopeful expression.

"Of course it was more than that" Leo admitted, Piper smacked him round the chest and glared at him

"What?" He exclaimed "We all know that Percy is in love with Annabeth"

"Leo" Piper remarked through gritted teeth

"Piper" he mimicked

Piper clearly agitated with how Leo was behaving responded with "Cut him some slack Leo, he's got a lot to deal with"

"His decision is pretty clear to me" Leo muttered

"Well it's not you making the decision, is it" Piper answered defensively. They glared at each other for a few seconds before Leo backed down and looked away. Piper almost grinned triumphantly but instead she looked at Annabeth. Annabeth analysed Pipers face for a couple of seconds before giving up, she was desperate to know what was wrong with Percy but Piper was a closed book and wouldn't give anything away. If Annabeth wanted to know what was going on she'd have to ask him directly.

* * *

The room fell into silence and they could hear people laughing on the other side of the door.

"I'm so sorry Leo this is your birthday and I'm ruining it" Annabeth spoke apologetically

"Yeah where's my birthday kiss" he said with a pout

Both girls laughed at him before they kissed him on the cheek

"Happy Birthday Leo" Annabeth said

"Happy Birthday flame boy" Piper commented

"Flame boy?" Annabeth questioned

"Long story" Piper said with a smirk whilst glancing at Leo

"You ready to go back out there and party now?" Leo asked with a smile, he stood up and offered his hand to help Annabeth up.

"Gotta face the world one day right?" She said before taking his hand

"Exactly, so why not drown your sorrows tonight and we can talk about everything else tomorrow" Piper responded as she stood up and slung her arms around both Leo and Annabeth.

* * *

They entered a chaotic common room, apparently whilst they'd been hidden in there everyone had been drinking and drinking heavily. The stench of alcohol was strong and the room had now been divided; Silena, Charles and Ethan were holding a shot competition on one side and those who weren't watching/participating were dancing to the music or standing around and talking. Annabeth looked around but saw no sign of Rachel of Percy. Leo turned and nodded at the girls and they followed him as he made a path through all the dancers leading to the shot area.

"Hey blondie" Ethan smirked from the other side of the table as she approached with the others, Annabeth smiled back at him

"Have we got 3 new competitors?" Charles asked as he produced plastic shot glasses from behind the table. Annabeth looked on the right of her to see Leo and Piper's cunning smile.

"Ha! Bring it" Annabeth responded with the same cunning smile. Ethan smirked at her and his eyes seemed to glisten in the light. Annabeth, Leo and Piper spread out across the table and Charles lined up 8 full shot glasses infront of each of them.

"What's in them?" Piper asked as she looked at them curiously

"Not saying, that will ruin the fun" Silena said before taking a sip of her cup, she was sat on a chair to the left of Charles directly in front of Piper with her right leg dangling over her left.

Annabeth looked opposite her at Ethan for an answer but he just winked at her before shouting

"3...2...1...SHOTS"

Annabeth picked up her first shot and threw her head back and poured the liquor down her throat, she didn't stop to work out the taste instead she chucked the shot glass down and instantly picked up the next one and used the same technique. On her 7th shot she could hear Piper gagging but Annabeth didn't turn to look at which one she was on instead she practically inhaled the shot before picking up her final one. As she did, she eyed Ethan who was chanting her name along with all the by standers. She winked at him before the cool liqueur soothed the burning of her throat from the 6th shot. She slammed the shot glass down and looked across to see Leo slam his down seconds afterwards and Piper throwing up by the side of the table with 4 full shots still lined up on her behalf.

"I won" she yelled "WOOOOOO"

"I'm impressed Blondie, didn't think you had it in you" Ethan admitted

"You were supposed to let me win" Leo joked

"Sorry birthday boy, I'm a shot machine" Annabeth playfully answered

"You're something alright" Ethan said flirtatiously whilst looking her up and down. That's when Annabeth noticed Percy walking over from Pipers side of the table

"That's enough Ethan" he said over his shoulder as he stepped infront of Annabeth as if he was blocking her from looking at Ethan. Annabeth could see Percy's nostrils flaring and she could feel his body warmth radiating on to her. Annabeth wanted to be angry with him for being so rude to Ethan and for how he treated her in the other room but instead Annabeth found that she was concerned for him,

"Percy, relax he's just being friendly" Annabeth said in attempt to calm him down. Percy looked at her endearingly before asking

"Can we talk?"

Annabeth slowly nodded "I think we need to" and she led the way back through the dancers and to the main door so they could go into the peaceful corridor.

* * *

Percy shut the door behind them and they walked in silence for a couple of steps

"The stars look beautiful tonight" Percy said in attempt to start a conversation, he had his arms behind his back and everything about his body language screamed awkward

"I haven't been outside to notice" Annabeth admitted

"Oh...well when you get the chance you should"

Annabeth nodded before looking around the corridor at the old paintings.

"Why have you been ignoring me Percy?" She said out of the blue, she didn't do small talk.

"So you noticed that huh?" He said with a small smile

"Kind of hard not to"

He stopped in his tracks but Annabeth continued to walk ahead

"Rachel's leaving" Percy announced

Annabeth froze. She was leaving? Why? What did that mean for their relationship? What did it mean for her and Percy? Was Percy leaving aswell? Annabeth took a deep breath before slowly turning around to look at him

"Her dad wants her to go to this fancy art school where she can focus on her paintings" he deflated against the wall and sunk to the ground. Annabeth stared at him blankly and allowed him to continue

"Don't get me wrong, I'm so pleased for her because it's an amazing opportunity-"

"-Are you going aswell?" Annabeth desperately interrupted

"Me in art school? Could you imagine what would happen?" He let out a light laugh and shook his head "I've been at this school since I was 12. I can't imagine going to another one" he said sentimentality

"And you can't imagine being here without her?" She asked

"She's been a big part of my life since she arrived here" He agreed. They remained in silence, with Percy still sitting down and Annabeth awkwardly standing in the middle of the corridor

"Annabeth... I want you to know that it wasn't just you I ignored, I ignored everyone when I found out so don't take it personally" he said truthfully

Annabeth remained silent as her heart pounded faster but he mistook her silence for hurt

"I'm sorry I pushed YOU away, I was so angry when I heard the news. She didn't even tell me, Frank did. He overhead a conversation between Hazel and Rachel. Apparently she was worried about how I'd react. She honestly thought that I might be happy she was leaving"

So that's why he got up and left the other day in the library when she said partners were supposed to tell each other things, it wasn't because he'd had enough of her annoying him, it was because Rachel didn't tell him she was leaving. Annabeth's legs were growing tired so she walked over and sunk down next to him and they stared at the wall opposite them in silence.

"So where does that leave you and Rachel?" Annabeth wondered

He looked up at the ceiling as if he was searching for his answer up there,

"Me and Rachel...we've been through a lot" Percy stared at her and looked as though he was in deep thought

"Annabeth...That kiss back there..." He trailed off as he changed the subject

Annabeth swallowed her true feelings and put on a brave face, if he was feeling this angry and upset about Rachel he clearly loved her, "Was just part of the game right? Don't worry about it Percy, you're still with Rachel and I hope that silly kiss didn't jeopardise your relationship with her"

"Oh...sure...part of the game...silly kiss..."

They fell into an awkward silence and Annabeth was trying to come up with an idea of how to get out of it

"Actually no" Percy interrupted her thoughts and he turned his head to look at her

"No?" Annabeth questioned

"No it wasn't just part of the game. I mean it was part of the game but that kiss meant something to me, and I'm sure as hell it meant something to you because that was no ordinary spin the bottle kiss"

Annabeth was a little taken back, that wasn't what she was expecting. She blinked a couple of times but his sea green eyes were still demanding an answer

"I...it...we...of course it meant something to me" Annabeth finally admitted. Percy grew a wide smile like the Cheshire Cat and she couldn't help but smile back at him. Annabeth put her hand on his chest to stop him from coming any closer

"But you're still with Rachel. We can't let it happen again Percy. We've deceived her trust 3 times already"

He stared into her eyes before responding "And you're still with Luke". She looked at him with confusion and then it hit her. Of course, she forgot he didn't know they had broken up.

"Is that why you're flirting with Ethan? Because Luke's not here?" He questioned

"I was not flirting with Ethan" she answered forcefully and lightly pushed him backwards before standing up and walking away a couple of steps to put some distance between them,

"Only because I stopped it" he stood up after her and walked into the middle of the corridor a few paces away from her,

"And why did you do that? It wasn't because you were looking out for Luke" she remarked

"Ethan's a flirt and I was keeping you out of trouble"

"Admit it Percy, you got jealous" she snapped, he looked at her before answering with a raised voice

"Yes ok I was jealous. I was jealous that another guy was giving you attention." He pointed his arm towards the common room and thrust it forwards again when he started to talk again "I am jealous that Luke gets to kiss you whenever he wants."

"Me and Luke aren't together anymore" she said in a high tone

He stood there with a puzzled expression on his face

She sighed before admitting "We broke up a few weeks ago now, we realised it wasn't working and we were better off as friends"

"Annabeth I didn't realise... I'm sorry"

"You're sorry? You're sorry that me and your cousin didn't work out? Do me a favour Percy, don't lie to me"

"You really think I'd lie to you?" He sounded wounded by that statement

"You seem to have no problem lying to Rachel so why would I be different?"

"Because it's you"

"What about Rachel? You've chosen her over me countless times, the only reason you're not now is because she's moving away. Even after she interrupted our kiss you didn't stay, you ran to her and made sure she was ok but what about me Percy? Why didn't you make sure I was ok?" She strained, her voice was breaking and she was on the verge of crying

He took a step closer to her "Don't you get it? It's you. It's been you since the day we met. Annabeth, you're the reason I'm not convincing Rachel to stay. Letting Rachel leave is the easiest decision I've ever had to make. I care for Rachel, deeply, but the way I care for her is completely different to the way I care for you. It took me a while to distinguish the difference but I have now. I can't fight for her and I won't because I don't love her. I didn't fight for the person I truly love enough but I'm ready now and I won't give up this time."

Annabeth was unsure how to handle the revelation and they both stared at each other waiting for the other one to respond first. Annabeth portrayed a mixture of shock, confusion and worry whilst Percy's face showed desperation.

*cough cough* "Erm...we're going to do the birthday cake now if you guys want to join" Jason awkwardly announced from the door where the party had quietened down.

Annabeth wasn't sure how long Jason had been standing there or aware of how much he had heard and to be frank, she didn't care. Annabeth glanced at Percy standing opposite her but he refused to meet her eye, she released a sigh and started walking towards Jason. Percy's hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, she paused beside him and he glanced at her sideways before muttering under his breath so Jason wouldn't hear "Can we talk about this later?"

She quickly glanced at Jason who was still holding the door open for them,

"We'll talk about it in the morning" she muttered, he turned his head and looked her firmly in the eyes and released her wrist. She looked at him for a second before continuing her walk to Jason.

As she went through the doorway and back into the common room, she gave Jason a small smile and he politely returned it. Everyone had now gathered around the edges leaving a big space in the middle where Leo was stood, she just about heard Jason call out to Percy over the mumbles of everybody in the common room but she didn't turn to see if he came through aswell. Instead Annabeth went and found Piper and stood beside her, Piper turned to look at her, she obviously saw the conflict in Annabeth's eyes and decided to keep quiet.


	36. Chapter 36 It's About Time

**Finally finished this chapter! Replies to reviews are at the bottom!**

* * *

Tuesday 22nd December

"Annabeth...Annabeth...Annabeth"

She was being lightly shook and gently spoken to but it wasn't enough to make her respond. Annabeth laid perfectly still under her covers in her toasty warm bed with her eyes tightly closed shut.

That soon changed when Piper grabbed her pillow from underneath her, making her head jolt onto the stiff mattress. Annabeth's eyes sprung wide open just in time to see a cube of white nearing her face. Piper had chucked the pillow at her

"You promised you'd come today" Piper said before walking back to her bed and started making it

"That's before I knew he was coming" Annabeth groaned and pushed the pillow to the side

"You still haven't spoken to him?" Piper asked in surprise

*flashback*

After Leo had blown out his candles, Annabeth managed to slip away unnoticed and crept back to her room. Roughly half an hour after she'd left the party and she'd finally got settled into her bed, there was a knock at the door. She wasn't as invisible as she thought. Annabeth stepped out of bed and opened the door to be met with Percy's green eyes. Annabeth was took by surprise and let her mouth hang open a little as she stared at him to see he was doing the same. He blinked a couple of times before words started to form in his mouth

"I...errr...just wanted to...errr"

After watching Percy struggle to string a sentence together Annabeth managed to get her brain functioning again; she closed her mouth, tightened her jaw and let her expression harden as she regained her composure. Seeing Annabeth straighten up, pulled Percy out of his trance and he too regained _some_ of his composure. His voice sounded scratchy and awkward "I wanted to make sure you were alright" he admitted

She eyed him suspiciously before answering "I'm fine... just tired that's all"

He nodded "Great...well...good night"

Percy stepped backwards into the corridor but kept his eyes firmly on Annabeth before turning and walking away. Annabeth stepped out into the corridor and watched him nearing into the darkness of the corridor before shouting "Thank you" a little more high pitched than she anticipated. He stopped in his tracks but didn't look back "For checking up on me" she added, a little quieter than before. Percy remained still for a second before continuing on his journey, Annabeth knew him well enough to know that he was smirking to himself. Annabeth smiled at the thought of that and quietly returned to her room.

*Flashback over*

Annabeth's silence was all Piper needed for an answer. Pipers face dropped in disbelief but Piper knew not to press for answers so she picked herself up again

"Then you're coming" Piper responded firmly. Annabeth let out a load groan.

"It's been 2 and half weeks. You're coming. End of discussion." Piper commented harshly

"I see Piper McMean's returned" Annabeth muttered

"You need some tough love, you've barely done anything since the party. You're annoyed at Percy... What else is new? You need to tell him why or just let it go, either way, you're coming"

"But I don't know Thalia" Annabeth said in attempt to change the topic, fortunately it worked

"But I need you there" Piper insisted

"You have Jason" Annabeth pointed out

"No Jason has me, I can't lean on him. I've got to be there to support him but I need you to support me"

"So why's Percy coming?" Annabeth groaned

"Him and Thalia were close, Percy wants to see her and celebrate her special birthday, it is her 16th after all"

Annabeth let that sink in for a moment. She sighed, she was being selfish and to be blunt, a bitch. The truth was she wasn't sure what had gotten into her recently, her thoughts weren't collected like they once were.

"I'll come" Annabeth said quietly

"Just hurry up and get ready because you are not a pretty sight right now"

Annabeth rolled her eyes before slipping out of bed to start getting ready.

* * *

Annabeth opted to wear some black jeans, a maroon flimsy top and a blue denim jacket. Annabeth didn't have a lot of time to do anything with her hair so she just left it natural with her blonde curls dropping down by her shoulders. She had quickly put some mascara on and a touch of foundation.

"Isn't it Jason's birthday aswell?" She asked as she applied some last minute lipstick

"No.. His birthday is July the 1st ... why would you think it was today?"

"Well Luke said they were twins"

"Of course...that boy never did listen." Piper sighed heavily "They're half siblings. Same dad, different mums" Piper said casually

"Oh" Annabeth answered in surprise

"Yeah Jason's dad used to..err get around..." Piper politely responded "Thalia's mum was a one night stand and then a couple of months later he met Jason's mum"

Annabeth arched her eyebrow up slightly as she did the math "But there's what...8 months between them?"

"Both Thalia and Jason were an accident"

"Ah"

"Jason's mum is pretty cool about her husbands past though, she took Thalia in after her mum died giving birth. She treats Thalia like her own"

"Poor Thalia" Annabeth responded sympathetically

"We try not to talk about it" Piper finished the conversation.

* * *

The 4 of them met outside the main entrance of the school and awaited Mr Chiron to pull the car around. Mr Chiron had volunteered to drive because he wanted to see how Thalia was doing. Percy looked good sporting black jeans, a long white top with navy sleeves. Annabeth decided not to talk to him, they would only get into a fight about why she was annoyed and she didn't want to do that in front of the others and she especially didn't want to make the atmosphere worse than it already was. Jason sat in the front of the Silver Range Rover whilst Annabeth, Piper and Percy had sat in the back. Piper was sat in the middle due to her being the smallest allowing Mr Chiron to see out of his back window a lot easier, not that Annabeth minded too much that Piper was separating her and Percy. The only conversation that seemed to flow was between Jason and Mr Chiron in the front; Annabeth looked out of her window the whole time, Piper kept her eyes focused on Jason as if she was worried that he was going to break at any given moment and Percy kept tapping his fingers on his leg to the beat of the radio.

Once they arrived, Jason and Mr Chiron did all the talking to the receptionists, nurses and doctors. They followed a nurse up some stairs, took a left along the corridor and then entered the third room on the right hand side. It was slightly bigger than Annabeth expected but it looked like the typical hospital room; a bed, a window, couple of chairs with a table at the back of the room and a storage unit next to the bed with a vase of flowers stood on top. Although today it was slightly different with banners and balloons paraded around the room. At the foot of the bed stood Jason and Thalia's parents. Jason's father was a ruggedly handsome man with a wild silver bushy beard and hair to match. His eyes were an electric blue and his nose pointed. It was easy to see why he was such a powerful businessman, even now it was clear that he was the man of the room. He was owning the room without even meaning to. Jason's mother seemed gentle and kind, she had a round face that appeared to be filled with love. Annabeth and Piper made their way to the back of the room whilst Mr Chiron and Jason greeted the adults with a smile, Jason gave his parents a tight hug followed by Percy whilst Mr Chiron gave a formal handshake. "It's nice to see you again Mr Grace" Chiron spoke fondly and Mr Grace retaliated with bringing Mr Chiron into a man hug. Annabeth tuned out of their conversation as she noticed Piper stiffen as she let her eyes glance at Thalia, Annabeth quickly grabbed Pipers hand and gave it a small squeeze.

"Are you ok?" Annabeth asked in a hushed tone

Pipers eyes were still transfixed on Thalia and she took a moment to respond.

"Yes" she whispered back

"So you must be Piper" Mr Grace said as he walked over and stood infront of the 2 girls blocking their view of the bed and the others now gathered around it

"The girl I've heard so much about over the summer... You nearly got my son kicked out of school" his voice was deep and husky

Piper went bright red and Annabeth was trying to think of an excuse for her but she couldn't... Piper was on her own for this one.

"And you must be Annabeth" Mr Grace looked at Annabeth, he waited for her to respond but she didn't, she was waiting for his next comment "The girl whose made Percy a mere shell of his former self" he continued

That wasn't the comment Annabeth had been expecting. This time Annabeth went bright red and she slightly lowered her head in embarrassment. Or was it due to shame? She risked glancing up and looking across at Percy, she watched as he looked at Thalia tentatively and she could tell that inside, he was empty, there was a whole inside of him. She knew that him and Jason were best friends but the way he looked at Thalia proved that they were more like family than friends. That girl lying in the bed was so much more than just a girl to him, that was his sister. Her eyes drifted back to the man standing in front of her, his light blue eyes were analysing hers. His eyebrows furrowed and she felt intimidated. She hadn't felt this small since Rachel spoke to her the Monday after Leo's.

*flashback*

Annabeth was on her way back to her room, she'd finished her lessons for the day and was looking forward to unwinding. Annabeth walked up the stairs and was nearing her room when she saw that Rachel was waiting by it. Annabeth stopped and thought about turning around and running to the library for an hour or maybe forever but it was too late. Rachel had spotted her. They locked eyes and Annabeth was expecting to be shouted at or beaten up but instead Rachel just stood there. Annabeth swallowed any fear that she may have had and started walking towards her,

"We need to talk" Rachel uttered, Annabeth nodded in agreement. She unlocked the room and allowed Rachel to walk in first.

"If it's about that spin the bottle kiss, it was just part of the game and it wasn't planned I swear-" Annabeth blurted out as soon as she shut the door and Rachel spun around to face her,

"Annabeth... It's ok" Rachel said softly. Confused, Annabeth's eyebrows scrunched up

"I'm leaving. I'm sure Percy's told you" Rachel continued,

Annabeth tried to hide her sheepish look but she didn't succeed

"The spin the bottle kiss might have been a freak incident but it was going to happen. You and Percy were always going to happen"

Again, Annabeth had a puzzled expression on her face

"I know Percy, better than anyone. He tried to hide it from me, tried to protect me from the truth but I knew he didn't love me anymore"

Annabeth felt her stomach turn over, there was a whole lot of guilt inside of her.

"At first I tried to pretend that it was just because you were new, it was a crush and it would fade away. As the months passed he became quieter, less affectionate and he'd lost that sparkle in his eyes. I think I knew before he did that he'd fallen for another girl. It made my decision to leave only that much easier. I'm sorry he didn't have the courage to break up with me when he knew loved you, I'm sorry for clinging onto the idea that he loved me more. But I've realised now, my love for him isn't enough for the both of us. I'd lost him the moment he met you"

Rachel was reduced to tears and Annabeth thought about consoling her but she wasn't sure how. Rachel picked herself up, wiping her cheek and straightened her posture. She made her way to the door and stood in the door frame,

"Annabeth" Rachel called out before she looked over her shoulder to see Annabeth staring at her "He's one of the decent ones so don't screw him over" Rachel warned her bitterly before shutting the door and leaving Annabeth to feel weak and fragile.

*flashback over*

She'd never felt so small and helpless as she had when Rachel talked to her. Annabeth hadn't planned on stealing Percy from Rachel, she didn't intend to ruin their relationship but she had. That truth was like a slap in the face. She had that feeling now, looking into Mr Grace's eyes. Her stomach was turning over and over and she felt like she was going to be told that she doesn't deserve that boy and he wouldn't be wrong, she didn't deserve him.

She was surprised when Mr Grace remained silent and shifted his body to beside Mr Chiron allowing the girls to see around Thalia's bed. "Maybe we should let the kids celebrate Thalia's birthday whilst we go grab some refreshments" Mr Grace suggested before ushering Mrs Grace and Mr Chiron out of the room. Confused at why Mr Grace didn't say anything to her, Annabeth looked at the door that he had just vanished from. After realising she probably wouldn't figure out why he remained silent, she walked over to the bed where the others had now gathered. Piper stood next to Jason at the side of the bed and slipped her hand into his, he kissed her on the forehead before they turned back to talk to Thalia.

"Happy Birthday Thals" Piper said "We would have brought cake but-

"-We weren't sure if you wanted the black punk rock style or the pink ballerina one" Percy interrupted from the foot of the bed next to Annabeth. Jason and Piper rippled into laughter and Annabeth smiled politely as she must have missed the joke

"You'd be in the deep depths of hell if you got her a pink ballerina cake" Jason commented

"Alongside the puffy pink dress I would have brought her" Percy smirked. Jason and Piper laughed again whilst Annabeth looked at Thalia, she was different to how she expected her to look. Piper had shown her a few pictures of Thalia and she was almost unrecognisable as the girl laying in front of her now; her body was thinner, her skin paler and her black hair had grown untidy. Silence filled the room as each of their eyes fell onto Thalia; Jason and Piper both had tears filling their eyes. Percy, on the other hand, had a blank expression as if he was unsure how to feel. All 3 of them had connections with Thalia; Jason was obviously family, Percy appeared to be practically family and Piper was basically family aswell, after all she was Thalia's best friend, roommate and now she's dating her half- brother. Annabeth looked next to her at Percy, he was still looking cluelessly at Thalia as if he was trying to figure out why it had to happen to her. It hurt to see Percy in so much pain and know there was nothing she could do to help, she hated this feeling, she wanted to make it go away. Instinct took over and she laced her fingers into his hand, he turned his head and looked at their hands in shock before looking at her. She gave him a supportive smile and he nodded in appreciation before looking back at Thalia. Annabeth continued to look at him as her mind raced back to the morning after Leo's party

*flashback*

"I can't believe we forgot to give him his present" Annabeth mumbled with a hair grip in her mouth whilst she tried to put the remaining pieces of her blonde hair into a bun as she and Piper walked down the corridor,

"We? I was getting the party ready...This is on you" Piper responded

Annabeth rolled her eyes before sliding in the hair grip as they reached the door. Piper shoved Leo's gift wrapped present into Annabeths hand and loudly knocked on the door which was loud enough to wake up the whole corridor let alone the sleeping Leo.

The door slowly opened and a half-awake Leo stood at the door in his bare pink boxers,

"Go away" he moaned before running his hand through his bed hair and then he let his hand slip down his face

Annabeth smirked but Piper glared at him "Leo its 10 o'clock, you should be up and socialising now"

"Well McLean, some of us could actually hold our drink and didn't start puking at 12 so some of us have a hangover this morning and just want to sleep all day"

Piper opened her mouth to speak, probably scolding him for not drinking enough water before going to bed but Annabeth quickly interrupted "Sorry Leo, we just wanted to give you your present and then you can go back to sleep" She held her arm out and handed Leo the box

"I suppose you want me to open this now?" Leo asked, it was a general question but he was staring at Piper

"No you don't have-" Annabeth tried to answer but Piper interrupted

"Yes"

He slowly started unwrapping the gift, letting the brown wrapping paper fall to the floor. He then opened the box to see a black tool belt inside, he pulled it out with one hand to study it.

"It has like a gazillion compartments" Piper commented

"We brought you a couple of tools aswell that are already inside, no idea what they're for but the guy at the store said that they would be handy"

"Thank you, both of you, it's awesome... when my brain is fully functioning I'll be sure to try it out." Leo said as he placed the belt carefully back into the box

"Sure no problem" Annabeth responded, Leo smiled at them both and turned to put the box away when he looked at the the opposing bed and quickly spun back round to the girls with the present now tucked under his arm

"Woah spinning quickly with this headache was not a good idea" He lifted his spare hand up to his temple and started rubbing it "Have either of you seen Percy? He's not in his bed and it looks like it wasn't slept in"

Annabeth tried to remain calm, her mind racing as she was frantically trying to think where he could be.

"Knowing him he crashed downstairs, we'll go look for him now" Piper suggested and started pulling Annabeth away.

The girls searched the common room and the black room but there was no sign of him, just a mess from last nights events. "I'll clear this up whilst you go look for him" Piper suggested as she picked up some empty cups

"No we'll both look for him and then we can tidy up together" Annabeth said in a desperate tone, she knew their chances of finding him quickly would be higher if they both looked

"Let me know when you find him" Piper said ignoring Annabeth's comment and continued to clear up the common room. Annabeth looked at Piper before rolling her eyes, Piper was definitely more stubborn than she was.

Annabeth left the common room and immediately checked the surrounding area but he wasn't anywhere to be found. Annabeth searched and searched before deciding to check the terrace

"Percy?" She asked as she pushed the terrace door open but sadly, no one was here. She sighed and walked over to the terrace wall and looked out across the school grounds, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and rung him

*ring...ring...ring...ring...ring*

Come on Percy, pick up she willed "Is this on? Hey Leo how you do work this thing? Oh I think I've figured it out... Hey, this is Percy...LEO! LEAVE MY STUFF ALONE ...*BEEEP*"

She smirked at his voicemail message, only Percy could get away with it.

"Percy give me a call when you get this ok?" And she hung up, where was that boy?

*flashback over*

"You know what Thalia would say right now?" Jason asked with Pipers head leaning on his shoulder

Percy and Annabeth looked at him with their eyebrows raised

"Where's the damn music" Jason said with a smirk

Percy let out a small chuckle before it turned into a big smile. Annabeth knew he was thinking about his visit to the Hoover Dam with Grover and Thalia so she released a small smile aswell. Percy let go of her hand and suddenly she felt incomplete, he wandered over to the window and opened it slightly before plugging his phone into a small speaker that stood on the window sill. Annabeth watched as he began scrolling through his playlists before he selected the one labelled 'Thalia ?'

"It's all her favourites" he said

"Great so it will be all punk rock" Piper laughed

Percy smirked before hitting shuffle and My Songs Knows What You Did In The Dark by Fall Out Boy started playing through the speaker. Percy rejoined the group but this time he went on the side of Thalia opposite to Piper and Jason.

"Happy Birthday Thals" Percy said before brushing a loose piece of hair out of the way of her face with his fingers. Her heart monitor went up a couple of beats but it soon dropped back to its usual rate.

Piper and Jason smiled at the occurrence and so did Annabeth. Suddenly the door opened wide and Frank, Hazel, Leo and Grover entered the room.

"What are you guys doing here?" Piper asked in shock whilst Jason had already started walking towards them

"To celebrate Thalia's birthday of course" Leo said before lifting a box containing a cake in his hands up to show Piper. Percy greeted the group with a smile but remained by Thalia's side where as Piper and Jason gave them a hug. Annabeth gave Frank, Hazel and Grover a small hug before tightly hugging Leo. Shortly afterwards Mr Chiron and the Graces returned and they were just as surprised to see a new group of faces as Piper was. Fortunately Frank and Hazel had brought some refreshments of their own and had placed them on the back table.

"How did you get here might I ask?" Mr Chiron questioned

"We caught the bus... Coach Hedge and Mr D said it was ok" Grover answered. Annabeth thought Mr Chiron might have told them off but instead he smiled. The room erupted with noise with everyone talking to one another but somehow Annabeth managed to hear Percy mutter under his breath

"You've got yourself a damn party now Thals"

* * *

They stayed for a couple of hours and the whole group were laughing and talking and generally enjoying themselves. Everyone minus Annabeth shared a story about Thalia; With Percy and Piper spilling secrets about what she had got up to during her first year whilst the Graces told embarrassing stories about when she was little. Annabeth remained silent and just listened to their tales and smiled. Eventually it was time to leave; Leo, Grover, Hazel and Frank left first with Mr Chiron dropping them off, he would then return to take Annabeth and the others back. Percy and Jason wanted to say goodbye to Thalia alone so everyone cleared the room leaving just those 2.

* * *

Annabeth caught Mr Grace's eye whilst they waited outside and he opened his mouth "Annabeth can I have a quick word?"

"Err sure?" She replied with a hint of uncertainty

He walked her round the corner where they sat on a row of empty seats, he studied her and Annabeth grew uncomfortable. She was about to ask what he wanted when he talked instead

"You're afraid aren't you?"

"Of what..?" She asked slowly, unsure what he meant

"To love...to be loved"

Annabeth was speechless, she didn't know what to think about that remark

"You love Percy, I can see it in your eyes. But at the same time your scared. For some reason, you're afraid to let him love you...why is that?" Mr Grace asked curiously

"I...I.." She stuttered, she took a deep breath and cleared her thoughts "I'm worried that I'll hurt him. I've hurt him enough already, I don't want to be the cause of anymore pain" she admitted

"Percy was Thalia's first friend at that school and he took Jason on as his best friend the following year." Mr Grace paused "Percy's family to me Annabeth. Naturally, I want what's best for him"

She gulped and looked into his intense eyes

"Whatever he's done to piss you off, you need to forget about because that boy is no saint. He has flaws but you have just as many. He's going to make mistakes and so are you. The only way you two are going to get through this is by being together. Don't throw away what you could have with Percy because you're scared you'll hurt him. Relationships are built on the fact you trust one another to not hurt each other" She didn't want to show any weakness so biting her lips down to stop them from trembling, she gave him a nod.

"Have faith in his love for you and you won't ever cause him pain"

Annabeth managed a small smile at him before Percy came round the corner

"Err Mr Chiron's back so we've got to go Annabeth" He said with his eyebrows raised and gave Mr Grace a weird look. Mr Grace nodded at Percy and stood up to follow him. Annabeth sat there for a second, she knew what she wanted now so Annabeth got up and silently walked behind Mr Grace to regroup with the others.

* * *

The journey back was alike the one up to the hospital, silent. Once they arrived back at school Mr Chiron dropped them off out the front whilst he went and parked the car. As they were about to make their way up the steps to the entrance of the reception, Percy asked if he could talk to Annabeth. She quickly glanced at Piper whom looked at her with concern, Annabeth remembered what Piper told her this morning and what Mr Grace had told her at the hospital, she knew that this was her opportunity to get everything off of her chest

"I'll catch up with you later" She told Piper with a smile. Piper nodded and headed inside with Jason. Percy offered his hand to Annabeth which she hesitantly looked at before deciding to accept, he took her around the side of the school and into the woods. They didn't talk until they reached a familiar part of the forest, the bit where Annabeth first met Percy, or the one with blue shoulder pads as she had named him back then. Oh if only she knew what she had let herself in for. She let go off his hand as he went and stood in the middle of it all

"Why have you brought me here Percy?" She asked as she looked at him from within the trees

"I want us to start fresh, a clean slate so I brought you here where we first met"

"Percy, we can't just forget everything, too much has happened"

"But we can, this will make things right between us. If we have a do-over of when we first met"

"It's not that easy" she argued

"Is this because I went off after Leo's and didn't tell anybody?"

"You disappeared Percy. I searched everywhere that Sunday morning and I couldn't find you. Do you have any idea what thoughts were running through my mind? I thought something had happened to you" she playfully whacked him on the chest, although only half of the power was playful

"That's why you've ignored me for 2 and a half weeks? Annabeth I'm here now, I'm here safe and sound and I promise, I will leave a note next time" he answered whilst rubbing his chest

"You were with Reyna all night! Anything could have happened!" She yelled at him

"I'm a big boy who can look after myself and those around me-"

"Did she make a move on you?" Annabeth quietly asked, barely louder than a whisper but Percy didn't take any notice

"-I had everything under control, I mean we only went up to the park, we talked for a couple of hours and then fell asleep, it wasn't intentional-"

"Percy, did she flirt with you?" Annabeth asked a little louder this time

"-And as soon as we woke up we came straight back and I went looking for you" he paused and looked at her and gave her a troublesome smile not noticing that she was awaiting an answer

"What?" He asked confused,

"Did anything happen between you and Reyna?"

"Me and Reyna? Why would you even think that?"

"You didn't answer your phone! How could I not think that?" Annabeth questioned and Percy let the silence build for a minute or two

"No, nothing happened with Reyna. Nothing will ever happen with Reyna"

"Well I'm glad we cleared that up" Annabeth said abruptly before looking around

"Sooo you being mad at me isn't because I didn't tell you where I was going?" Percy dazedly asked

"You're so naive it's unbelievable"

"Naive is another word for cute right?" He responded with his signature smile

"Do you even have a brain?" Annabeth eyed him up suspiciously.

Percy produced a lop sided grin

"Why are you doing that with your face?" Annabeth asked cautiously

"Because you got jealous"

"I was not jealous" Annabeth answered abruptly

"So why did it matter that I was with Reyna?"

"There wasn't a problem with you being with Reyna" she lied

"Uh huh"

He smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back at him. She looked at him for a second longer than she should have and a sexual desire had been realised inside of her,

"Now you're not ignoring me can I finally ask you something?" Percy asked

"As long as you don't get on one knee and ask me to marry you"

She laughed before seeing Percy's sheepish look, her eyes sprung wide open as she watched him go down on to one knee and pull out a small box from his back pocket.

"Annabeth"

"Percy"

"Will you"

"Stop, please stop."

"Do me the honour"

"I'm begging you Percy, please do not say those next words"

"Of becoming my"

"We haven't even dated yet! You can't be serious right now"

"Girlfriend" he finished with a cheesy grin and popped open the box and laying in the middle of a black velvet cushion was the silver leaf with the initials W.G. Annabeth froze. She was so overwhelmed with emotion that she didn't think twice about her next move, she grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him up as she placed her lips onto his. His lips were just as soft as she remembered. She didn't even notice that one of her legs had lifted up like it does in the movies. Percy pulled away from the kiss and raised to his full height

"So is that a yes?"

"You're such an idiot" Annabeth replied before wrapping her arms around the back of his neck

"Yes Percy Jackson, I would love to be your girlfriend"

This time it was Percy who leant in for the kiss first, grabbing her waist and pulling her tightly into his body whilst holding the box with the silver leaf in his spare hand.

* * *

 **Right ok my lovelies, from the bottom of my heart I truly apologise for not updating sooner. I really wanted to get this chapter right and there was a lot I kept changing my mind on. I also struggled to fit in time to write this; Uni has become more demanding yet again, I'm trying to make sure I see all my friends, my hours at work have been increased.**

 **HOWEVER**

 **The next chapter will conclude our story. And it will go out with a bang!**

 **The next and final chapter will most likely be uploaded at the end of April or end of May, depending on how much I can write due to exams.**

 **I am thinking about a new story where the next half of the school year is projected through Percy's POV. If this is something you would like to read please let me know either by message, review or answering the poll!**

 **Until next chapter, I love you all and I hope you have an awesome few weeks!**

 ** _Review Time_**

 _ **Guest**_ ; Here you go my friend!

 ** _Cj_** ; I'm sorry it took so long, I have a bunch of excuses that you may or may not have just read above.

 ** _wookiebeast01_** ; Ask and you may receive ALSO I'm glad you liked my Frank pun ;)

 ** _Random Reviewer_** ; I also re read my story- Look how far these characters have evolved! I'm very thankful for your reviews, they bring a smile to my face every time! #OhTheTension

 ** _anabethchase653_** ; Thank you and sorry you had to wait like 3 weeks for this to be updated!

 ** _tovelevin_** ; The feels are too much! Thank you very much!

 ** _I am awesome;_** I'm not sure if I was supposed to smile evilly at your review but I did it anyway! This is exactly how I wanted you to feel as we near the end of the story so MWHAHAHA

 ** _Another percabeth lover_** ; AHHH THE ALL CAPITAL REVIEW IS BACK

 ** _Seaweed girl 1218_** ; Only 3 times?! Girl I want it read 5 times a day! Haha here you go sweetie

 ** _Username222_** ; You didn't beg hard enough so it took me a little while to give in ;)

 _ **Guest**_ ; I have a few ideas floating around in my brain but they'll have to wait until the summer!

 ** _clo7615_** ; Hahaha I'm glad you enjoyed it all!

 ** _Blake Jackson;_** Maybe sooner than you expected? ;) Leo is my fave!

 ** _raelauren_** ; C-R-A-Z-Y! Yeah that part was quite sweet!

 ** _VemulaS2022_** ; I'll hold my hands up and admit that a couple of chapters were fillers because I didn't want to do big time gaps but the moment you've been waiting for finally arrived!

 ** _C123002_** ; I'm sorry I couldn't update any quicker but I hope I kind of made up for it?

 _ **BlueCupcakes2208**_ ; I probably should have given it a proper ending but I couldn't quite word it correctly so it just sorta got scraped! I hope your boards went ok!


	37. Chapter 37 Blisful Ending

**_Le finale_**

* * *

After a serious make out session, Percy gently slipped his hand into Annabeth's and led the way out of the woods. Both of them wore drunk in love smiles and they made no attempt to hide it even once they reached the field.

As they crossed the field, Annabeth looked up towards the sky where she saw dark grey clouds now loomed over them. She wasn't sure what made her do it, especially as she was by no means of the word religious, but she silently prayed that it wasn't a sign about her and Percy.

"I think it's going to rain" Annabeth said slowly, still looking at the clouds above.

"Come on then" Percy told her before pulling her into a slight jog. Little drops of rain splashed onto Annabeth's face, they quickly let go of each other and sprinted across the field, the droplets getting heavier with every step. They slowed down as they reached the canteen doors.

"Quick get in" Percy ushered her in as he opened the door for them and as soon as he stepped inside, it started chucking it down. They stood side by side at the glass doors laughing at their lucky escape and looking on as the rain drenched everything in sight. They noticed a few students emerge from the woods and started running towards the canteen.

Once they were close enough Percy held the door open for them. 5 of them piled in one after the other,

"Thanks man" the last one huffed as he stepped inside and patted Percy on the back, Percy returned the gesture before looking at his hand in disgust and wiping it down his trouser leg realising the guy was soaking wet. Annabeth felt like she recognised the voice and then glanced at the other 4 who conveniently still had their hoods up.

"You have got to be kidding me" Annabeth moaned as she rolled her eyes

Percy turned his head away from the scenery outside and looked at her in confusion "Annabeth what are you talking about?"

"These idiots" she gestured with her hand at the 5 hooded figures now sat around a table "Remove your hoods"

They looked at each other before one of them sighed heavily and removed their hood to reveal Piper, the rest followed as suit.

"Hi" Leo gave a little wave

"Why am I not surprised?" Percy rolled his eyes

"We did it out of love" Piper tried to reason

"You spied on us...out of love?" Annabeth asked with an eyebrow arched

"I think what she means to say is we had your interests at heart" said the familiar voice, which belonged to none other than Jason. Of course he would stick up for Piper.

"Privacy guys, you've got to respect our privacy" Percy told them

"It's not our fault that this is one of the biggest things to happen here since..." Hazel trailed off, probably trying to think of something to compare it to. Hazel glared at the others as she struggled to think of a comparison, Frank looked around the room to avoid his girlfriend's glaring eyes, Piper looked like she was trying to think of something but came up empty, the same expression worn by Jason

"Since we all became a group" Leo stated. Annabeth realised the tone in his voice meant he was stating it as a fact, it wasn't just something to finish Hazel's sentence.

The others nodded and muttered in agreement, whilst Percy and her exchanged a quick glance. Was the two of them being together really that big?

* * *

The following day all the students went home for a week to celebrate Christmas; Percy spent the week with his mum Sally and step-father Paul whilst Annabeth spent the week with her dad and his new girlfriend in their new apartment. They'd only been dating a month and decided they should move in together- all a bit too soon in Annabeth's eyes.

Her dad had dated many women since her mum left several years ago, Annabeth was used to seeing different faces to celebrate the holidays with. It used to bother her because she always thought it should have been the two of them celebrating together rather than the two of them and whatever flimsy he was dating at the time but as she got older, Annabeth slowly realised that these women didn't matter to him. They were just an attempt to fill this void he had since her mum left. However this girlfriend seemed different to the others. Annabeth wasn't particularly fond of the woman though she couldn't figure out why, there was just something...off...about her. Although, Annabeth had to admit she did buy her a really nice Christmas present; it was a puzzle which made a 3D Empire State Building when complete.

Annabeth completed it within the hour.

To keep herself out of the way, she face-timed Percy whenever possible;

"Oh she is pretty Percy" Sally had told her son in front of Annabeth during the evening of Tuesday's (30th of December) FaceTime session

"Mum she can hear you" Percy replied

Annabeth sat on her bed and awkwardly looked at the screen, unsure what to say or do so she just slightly bit her lip.

"I know she can hear me, she can see me too. I may be old but I know how iPhones work. I want sweet Annabeth to know I think she's pretty" Sally walked up behind Percy and waved into the camera, her chestnut hair falling just short of her boobs, Sally's deep blue eyes looked directly at Annabeth's.

"Hi Annabeth" Sally said softly

Percy's head fell into his hands whilst Annabeth waved at her phone "Hi Sally" Annabeth grined, she likes seeing Percy embarrassed "Thanks for the compliment earlier"

"Anytime sweetie, how's your dad doing?" Sally was the kindest woman Annabeth had ever spoke to and apparently she had a creative mind. According to Percy she invented blue food, Annabeth assumed whoever came up with the idea of blue food colouring probably invited blue food but Percy was convinced it was Sally so she didn't question it.

"Yeah he's good thank you, how's Paul?" Annabeth responded, ensuring the small talk continued

"Paul is wonderful, thank you for asking" Sally answered with a huge smile

Percy lifted his head up and rolled his eyes, Annabeth couldn't help but look at him and smirk. Sally took the hint, lightly smacked him on the back of the head before flashing Annabeth a smile and leaving the room, which Annabeth recognised as the kitchen thanks to the black and white tiles along the far wall.

"You should be pleased your mum and I get along so well" Annabeth told him with a smile

"She thinks the world of you" Percy responded with a smirk before letting out a sigh

"I can't believe you're not going to be spending New Years Eve with me" Percy told her with sadness in his voice. Annabeth fought back a smile when she answered

"I know but I promise to make it up to you when I see you"

Her dad had told her only a few hours ago that the New Years Party they were supposed to be attending together had been cancelled so she could go back to school and celebrate with her friends if she wanted, she accepted the offer immediately but decided not tell Percy or any of their group so she could turn up and surprise them.

"Make sure you tell everyone I said hey and I'll see them in a couple of days"

"That reminds me" Percy replied "Make sure you dress cute when you arrive" he wore a cheeky grin on his face and Annabeth knew he was up to something

"What do you know that I don't?" Annabeth questioned playfully and looked straight into the camera

"Sarcastic or honest answer?"

"Honest"

"A lot"

Annabeth rolled her eyes at him whilst he smirked

"I'll act surprised"

"No you're dreadful at acting" Percy laughed

"How about I do something for you?" Annabeth started slowly slipping her silky purple top down her shoulder

"Are you trying to seduce me Miss Chase?"

"And obviously I'm not succeeding" she huffed as she adjusted her top back to how it was "So I guess I'll have to play this card, no kisses for you ever again"

"Is that a threat?"

"You bet your ass it's a threat" Annabeth told him

"You seriously can't wait like 3 days?"

"It's infuriating that you know something I don't"

"Tough luck Wise Girl"

"I don't like you" she sulked

"I adore you too" he simply said with an adorable smile "Right I've got to go, got some secret arrangements to make with Jason"

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Annabeth asked with one eyebrow raised

"Every second. I'll FaceTime you tomorrow evening Wise Girl" Percy said ensuring he rubbed it in one last time.

"Bye" Annabeth ended the call and sat on her bed staring at the blank screen with one thought in mind-what the hell was her boyfriend up to.

* * *

 _Wednesday 30th December_

The next morning Annabeth got dropped off outside the entrance to the school at 11am. Similarly to when she first arrived, her dad lifted the bags out of the boot and handed them to her. She gave him a quick kiss and said she'd see him in the summer before they parted ways.

Annabeth headed straight to her room, walking as quick as her legs could carry her whilst clinging onto her bags with a huge grin on her face. She pushed the door expecting to see Piper already sitting on the bed but instead Annabeth collided into the solid door. Her bags bounced off and Annabeth's grip loosened allowing them to fall onto the floor. It was locked. Meaning Piper hadn't arrived back yet. Annabeth bent down to her cream handbag and shuffled her hand around before finding the key, she unlocked the door and pushed it open to find the room exactly how she left it. Annabeth smiled to herself before collecting her bags off of the floor and entering the room. She placed her handbag and another bag on the bed and put the other 2 by the side of the wardrobe. Annabeth opened her bag and pulled out her Christmas present from her dad; A speaker. She quickly got her iPod out from her handbag, connected it to the speaker and was about to hit shuffle when she heard a pile of bags drop on the floor

"Annabeth?! I thought you said you were going to spend New Years with your dad" Piper screamed with excitement before flapping her arms around Annabeth for a tight embrace

"Change of plans" Annabeth chuffed

"Yayyyyy" Piper squealed before pulling back "Does Percy know?" Her eyes wide and eyebrows raised high

Annabeth bit her lip and shook her head "I wanted to surprise all of you"

Piper pulled her into a tight hug again and Annabeth looked over Piper's shoulder to see a mountain of bags

"I'm guessing we're unpacking together" Annabeth smirked

Piper simply rolled her eyes before they simultaneously burst out laughing. They separated and Annabeth helped Piper move her bags from the corridor and into the room.

"I can see why you flopped on your bed on the first day now, how did you do all this by yourself?" Annabeth asked as she placed the last bag on the bed

"Oh I didn't, I had some guys help me" Piper admitted

Annabeth was in 2 minds on how to respond; On one hand, Annabeth's inner feminist wanted to rip Piper apart shouting 'we are women, we are strong, we don't need men to carry our bags' but on the other hand, she was rather impressed and wanted to know her secret. Before Annabeth could make up her mind, Piper moved the conversation into a new direction.

"Anyway how was your week? Have a good Christmas?"

"Average week, Christmas was...well...Christmas, got some nice presents. How about you?" Annabeth replied

"Yeah mine was the same" Piper simply answered

They both looked at the amount of bags they had to unpack before looking at one another again, Piper said what Annabeth was thinking

"Wanna go find the group and do this later?"

Annabeth grinned and nodded "You read my mind"

Piper laughed and they left the room and went off to find the group.

* * *

Annabeth was surprised to find nearly all the students downstairs, it was as if no one had seen each other in months. Everybody was hugging and one group of girls screamed every time a friend arrived. Annabeth found it ridiculous, yes she'd missed her friends but not enough to scream.

Piper was getting stuck inbetween people and was having trouble trying to squirm past so Annabeth grabbed her hand and led the way to the less crammed patio.

"Thanks" Piper said once they'd escaped. The crisp cold air hit them and they could finally breathe something other than sweat "Honestly you'd think people would have kept in touch over the week break"

Annabeth nodded in agreement as they walked round the corner and spotted the group. Leo, Frank and Hazel were sat down on the bench with Clarisse and Chris- where had those 2 disappeared to over the last 5 months? First and last time Annabeth remembers seeing them was the first week of school.

Annabeth couldn't help but notice neither Jason or Percy were sitting there.

"Where's.." Annabeth turned to ask Piper only to see that she'd already made her way over to the group. Annabeth smirked to herself before walking over to everyone

"Annabeth?" Leo asked, the others turned in shock before smiling at her

"Hey" she said with a little wave as she squeezed next to Piper on the edge of the bench with one leg hanging off

"Thought you weren't coming until New Year's Day?" Leo questioned

"Plans got cancelled so Dad said I could come back earlier" she replied with a grin

"Good Christmas?" She asked loudly and directed her attention down the table. They all muttered a yeah and nodded their heads.

Sometime later and Annabeth's not sure how they got onto the topic but they were talking about whether the future is fixed or not

"The future is inevitable, there's no way to change it" Piper stated

"That's stupid, there's no way my future is all ready set out for me" Leo argued

"I second that" Frank added "Your future changes all the time, it depends on how you respond to a cross road and surely we stumble across one each day meaning your future is constantly changing"

"I agree, you don't like where your future is heading then you change course" Hazel remarked from the opposing end of the table

Annabeth suppressed a smile as she realised Leo, Frank and Hazel had all spoke in order of their seating positions. It seemed she was the only one to clock this so she decided to keep it to herself.

"Deja Vu" Annabeth commented knowing this would end the speculation of the future

"Excuse me?" Hazel questioned

"Deja vu. If the future isn't fixed then how do you explain Deja Vu?"

The trio looked stunned and were trying to come up with an explanation

"She's got you" Clarisse shouted from the other side of Piper

"Well and truly owned" Chris smirked beside her.

Piper and Annabeth high-fived whilst the others moaned

"Doesn't prove anything" Frank quietly muttered.

Frank and Hazel then started a discussion with Clarisse and Chris about Marvel vs DC. Annabeth rolled her eyes because she knew Marvel were better but decided to stay out of this one and turned her attention to Leo who kept glancing at his phone

"Where's Calypso? Didn't you guys go on a date over the break" Annabeth pointed her finger at him and wiggled her eyebrows

"Yeah we did and I haven't heard from her since" he spat out

Annabeth wasn't sure if it was the way Leo spoke or what he had said that caught Pipers attention but she and Annabeth exchanged looks and Piper cleared her throat forcing Leo to look up from his phone but he beat Piper to speaking

"I'm sorry Annabeth I didn't mean for it come out like that. I just don't understand why I haven't heard anything- hey you two are girls"

"Very well spotted" Piper interrupted haughtily

"Why hasn't she answered me?" Leo asked. Annabeth waited for Piper to answer but when she didn't, Annabeth decided to step in

"How long after the date did you text her?" She sighed

"Well we went bowling on the evening of the 23rd and because obviously it was Christmas Eve the next day I didn't get a chance to message her." He took a deep breath and continued to recall what had happened last week

"Then it was Christmas Day and then Boxing Day and I was you know, very busy with family and repacking after that so I text her on...the 29th?"

"You text her yesterday?!" Piper raised her voice

"Yes?" Leo squinted as his voice went high pitched

"Idiot. Boys are such idiots" Piper said in defeat

"What did I do wrong?" Leo asked in surprise

"You waited 5 days to text her" Annabeth told him

"She probably thinks you had a horrible time" Piper retaliated

"But I didn't! It was the best day of my life"

"Well she doesn't know that peabrain! All she knows is you text her 5 days after the date, and what did the text even say? Did you say 'Hey sorry been crazy busy with the family! It's been manic! Had a great time bowling, hope we can do it again?'" Piper questioned

"Errrrr more like 'Hey smiley face'" Leo answered

Pipers nose flared and she sat there stewing and Annabeth knew she was about to rip Leo's head off

"Run. Go find Calypso and apologise. NOW." Annabeth ordered

Leo hastily attempted to leave the bench but not without banging his knee on the table and getting his leg caught. The group fell silent as they watched Leo squirm at the sight of Pipers glare. Once he'd successfully got his legs free Leo ran round the corner and disappeared.

"What was that about?" Hazel asked

"Piper was going to murder Leo" Annabeth answered casually

"And you let him get away?" Clarisse moaned

"What he do this time?" Frank enquired

"Text Calypso 5 days after their date" Piper uttered

"What's wrong with that?" Chris asked innocently. Clarisse shot him a look that could only be described as death will descend on you in the next 5 seconds unless you run.

"Frank I think I hear the lads shouting for us" Chris responded so quickly that Annabeth only just managed to work out what he said.

Frank looked at Chris with a puzzled look but Chris narrowed his eyebrows and Frank redirected his eyes to Clarisse whose facial expression mirrored Pipers. Frank's eyes skimmed back to Chris and understood what was being asked of him

"Right.. Yes... I hear them too" Frank answered and moments later the boys disappeared round the corner.

"Boys are such idiots" Clarisse stated

"Right?!" Piper answered

"Speaking of idiots, where's Jason?" Hazel asked with a smirk

"Him and Percy are..." Piper stopped when she caught Annabeth's eye "...err... They're gonna be joining us...later"

"Does Percy know you're back?" Hazel enquired

"No I thought I'd surprise him but I haven't seen him all day" Annabeth answered before replaying Pipers words in her head "Why can't the boys join us now?"

"They're busy unpacking" Piper responded quickly

"Liar" Clarisse muttered with a smirk and Piper stuck her tongue out in response.

"I've been sworn to secrecy I can't say a word"

"You can't even tell your girls?" Hazel questioned

All eyes fell on Piper as she glanced up at the sky to avoid eye contact

"It's not the right time to tell you" Piper argued

"Worst excuse ever" Clarisse laughed

"You could have said you were busy saving Leprechauns and I would have believed that more" Hazel giggled

"LEPRECHAUNS ARE REAL" Piper shouted

Hazel threw her head back and laughed whilst Annabeth and Clarisse snorted

"Then what do you call short ginger Irish people?" Piper asked desperately

" _Short ginger Irish people_ " Annabeth, Hazel and Clarisse all stated at the same time before emerging into fits of laughter.

Once the girls had finished teasing Piper and gossiping about Leo and Calypso, they returned to their rooms to finish unpacking. Turns out Clarisse and Hazel had done the exact same as Annabeth and Piper, dumped their bags and then went searching for everyone else. Hazel said it was weird being in her room without Rachel, Piper suggested that they all had a sleepover tonight but Hazel dismissed the idea because she didn't want to break the rules and get into trouble.

* * *

Annabeth and Piper flopped onto their beds, tired from moving everything from one place to another.

"I still can't understand why you need all that stuff" Annabeth spoke aloud

"I have something for every occasion" Piper answered innocently

"How many occasions are you expecting?"

Piper sat up straight, her legs crossed neatly and gave a royal wave "One is always prepared young Annabeth" she said in her posh voice

"I'm older than you" Annabeth pointed out

Piper changed her tone to an east London thug "But I'm wiser so shut it"

Annabeth and Piper both cackled with laughter, if anyone had been walking past they would have thought they were evil witches.

Once they'd stopped, Piper looked at her watch before making a suggestion "Right I'm hungry, wanna go see if the canteen is open?"

"Yeah, let's go" Annabeth responded

The girls stood up, "What are they serving today?" Annabeth inquired

Piper shrugged "Who knows"

Both of them let out a light laugh and Piper swung the door open to be met by a body in the doorway, fist frozen in the air as if if they were just about to knock. Annabeth's heart sunk a little when Piper was brought into a tight embrace by Jason.

"What are you doing here? I didn't think I'd see you until this later this evening" Piper narrowed her eyes like he was messing up their plan

"Change of plans" Jason told her whilst producing a smirk

"Jason... Where's-"

Jason cut Annabeth off "In his room" he said with a small smirk on his lips, both he and Piper watched the words sink into Annabeth before stepping to one side so she could run past them.

Fortunately the corridors were empty so Annabeth didn't have to worry about running into anyone. She took the stairs two at a time and each stride seemed to be getting longer as she neared his door. The door was open slightly so she pushed it fully open only to find Leo in the room. She tried to hide her disappointment.

"Where's Percy?" She asked with her face scrunched up in confusion, her voice sounding more casual than she expected it be.

"I'm his roommate not his GPS tracker" Leo replied sarcastically whilst unpacking clothes from his bag and placing it into the wardrobe

"His bags are on the bed and Jason said he was in his room" she pointed out "So where has he gone Leo?"

"I don't know... Try the sports hall" Leo answered without batting an eyelid

"The sports hall?" she said aloud

"Yeah that big room where we do indoor sports" he muttered

It didn't slip Annabeth's attention that Leo wasn't behaving like his usual self, like he was a few hours ago.

"And how do I get there again?" She questioned innocently, hoping he might change his attitude

"Do I have to do everything around here? Right come on I'll take you there"

* * *

The surroundings were begging to be recognised but as Leo walked in front of her, the paintings in the corridor, the signs on the doors, none of it seemed familiar to Annabeth.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"You wanted me to take you to the sports hall, so I'm taking you to the sports hall. Just trust me ok" Leo replied

They walked a little further until Leo stopped abruptly and Annabeth made a noise that sounded a lot like "jefhsys" as she nearly walked into him but fortunately she managed to stop just in time.

"What the hell Leo?"

"There's instructions on the wall...says you've got to put this blindfold on" He unpicked the letter and handed Annabeth the blindfold

"You know what's going on don't you?" Annabeth questioned as she got ready to put it on

"Yes and my instructions were very clear. Take Annabeth to the sports hall and make sure she wears the blindfold. He doesn't even think I'm capable of doing that so please just put the blindfold on and let me take you inside" he pleaded

"Ok, ok I'm putting it on" Annabeth said as she picked the blindfold up when a thought occurred to her "How does he know I'm here?

Leo looked at her with a blank expression and shrugged "I have no idea, that guy knows everything around here" he took the blindfold out of her hands and tied it around her eyes and produced a neat knot at the back of her head. As expected, she couldn't see anything other than pitch black

"Are you ready?" Leo asked, Annabeth nodded despite having a thousand thoughts whirling around her brain and then heard a set of double doors open. A hand gripped her wrist and she assumed it was Leo's, he guided her through the doors and she tried to imagine what she was walking into. She assumed she was standing in the middle of it because she felt Leo let go of her wrist and she stood alone.

Until the blindfold was removed from her face, she didn't realise her eyes were scrunched up until she heard him from across the room.

"Open your eyes Annabeth" Percy told her

She slowly opened them only to be lost for words at what she saw; the sports hall had been transformed into a cinema. Fairy lights had been put up around the room and there were blankets spread out across the floor and pillows piled onto them with buckets full of popcorn and sweets on each blanket. The projecter was focused on a white sheet that had been wrapped round the climbing frame and it displayed the main menu to Annabeth's favourite Christmas film. Percy stood in front of her now looking sheepishly at the floor before taking a deep breath and finally letting his eyes drift up to hers

"Is it ok? I know you said Love Actually was your favourite and you didn't get the chance to watch it with your dad this year"

"Percy you're amazing, I can't believe you did this for me" she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a massive hug

"Well you've actually got Piper to thank for this, she text me to say that you were back today so me and Jason have been setting this up all afternoon otherwise you would have had to wait until New Year's Day"

Annabeth spotted Piper leaning against the wall and mouthed thank you to her. Percy pulled out of the hug and slipped his hand into hers and directed her to the front blanket and helped her sit down. Everyone else from their group took their place on their blanket; Piper and Jason, Frank and Hazel, Clarisse and Chris and Leo sat alone. She turned to him and told him to move his pile of stuff next to her's, he nodded and gave her a sincere smile. Annabeth knew he wished Calypso was here with him and she made a silent promise to help him make things right. Percy hit play before slotting himself down next to Annabeth. Everybody snuggled together with their partner and ate all the food. Annabeth realised she had an amazing set of friends and the best boyfriend in the world.

* * *

The following day Annabeth didn't wake up until 1pm, she looked across the room to see Piper was still asleep. She placed her head back onto her pillow and replayed last nights events, Annabeth had never had so much fun. Her phone started buzzing and she quickly removed it from her bed side cabinet and glanced at the caller ID, it was Leo.

She whispered "Hi Leo what's up?"

"Why are you whispering?"

"Pipers still sleeping"

"Oh... I need your help"

"Sure, what with?"

"...Calypso..."

"You didn't sort it?!" She hissed

"I couldn't find her" Leo squeaked

"Give me half an hour to get ready and then we'll sort this"

"Can't you meet me now?"

"I need to get ready, I've only just woken up"

"Oh... ok...Thank you so much Annabeth"

"Yeah yeah I'll see you later"

She promptly hung up and set to work on getting ready quietly to make sure Piper was undisturbed.

By some miracle, she was ready and Piper was still sound asleep. She crept out the door and text Leo to meet her in the common room. She had a feeling it would be empty due to everybody preparing for tonight. Tonight...she realised was New Years Eve which gave her an idea about how Leo could make it up to Calypso.

Sure enough Leo was already waiting in the common room for her,

"Ok so I thought that maybe I could like give her a really expensive gift to apologise and take it from there?" He said as soon as she closed the door with his eyebrows raised in hope that Annabeth said it was a good plan.

"That's a stupid plan" Annabeth admitted

"Bu-"

"Stupid" Annabeth said sharply

"Wh-"

"S-T-U-P-I-D"

"So what's your plan?" groaned

"Leo she doesn't want something really expensive, to impress a girl you need to keep it simple...but on a big scale"

"Annabeth, you're a smart girl but that makes no sense"

"Think of all the movies, us girls though we had to admit it, want a big romantic gesture. Run after us in the airport- simple but dramatic. Kiss us in the pouring rain- small but romantic as hell"

"Ok I think I know what you're getting at" Leo nodded with a smile

"So we've got to think of something simple first" Annabeth told him

"I could buy her a dozen roses

"No that's completely off, way too simple" She wavered her hand "Leo tonight is New Years Eve, you've got to use that to your advantage"

"And how exactly do I do that?"

Annabeth smirked at him "I've got an idea".

They spent the next hour strategising, making sure every angle of their idea was foolproof before finalising their plan.

"This is going to be so awesome" Leo said with a huge grin

"Ok so we're clear on whose doing what right?"

"Yeah, I'll go get the boys and you go get Piper and then you'll go distract Calypso so the boys can set her room up"

"Right" she nodded

"Let's do this"

* * *

"So why are we doing this?" Piper asked whilst being dragged by Annabeth as they searched for Calypso's room

"Because Leo is our friend" Annabeth answered as she scanned the room numbers

"How do you even know which room she's in?

"Leo" Annabeth simply replied

"Why doesn't that surprise me" Piper said as she rolled her eyes

"It's this one" Annabeth pointed to the door infront of them "So you're clear on the plan yeah?"

"Yeah I've got this don't worry"

Piper pulled out her camera and pressed record, she gave a thumbs up to Annabeth so she went ahead and knocked on the door. There was no turning back now.

After a couple of seconds Calypso opened the door, she was wearing a long khaki dress with a golden belt around her waist, her make up was perfectly blended in and if Annabeth didn't know any better, she would have thought Calypso knew she was about to go on camera.

"Hi Calypso, we're making a video of all the students to be shown at the party tonight"

Technically, she wasn't lying. A bend in the facts.

"Would you mind coming with us and answering a few questions?"

Say yes, say yes, say yes Annabeth prayed, it took Calypso a few minutes to speak but when she did Annabeth was relieved

"Sure, sounds fun" Calypso said with a smile.

"Great! Let's go and answer them on the field, get a shot with the scenery you know" Piper spoke from behind the camera, Calypso nodded in agreement

Annabeth slyly walked behind the pair and text Leo 'All clear'

God she hoped the boys didn't fail to deliver their side of the plan.

After some very carefully constructed questions had been answered and they got Calypso to countdown from 10 and a small clip of her dancing, Piper stopped recording.

"Right I think that's all we need from you, Thank you Calypso. I'll go give this to our editing guy" and Piper shot off

"Great, well I better get back to my room" Calypso started to get out from the picnic table

"Hang on Calypso can I talk to you for a second?" Annabeth asked nervously

"Err sure" and she sat back down

"I think we might have got off on the wrong foot...about Leo"

"Ah... I was wondering when he was going to come up"

"He's a really good guy and I love him but me and him would never...you know" Annabeth stopped there, hoping Calypso knew where she was going with that.

"I know. He's told me. I don't know why I got so protective of him" Calypso admitted

"Isn't it obvious? You like him"

"Yeah and I think that scared him off. I think he see's me as this jealous psycho who plays mind games with him" Calypso sighed.

Annabeth could see that she'd been bottling that in for a while and she was glad Calypso had opened up to her because Annabeth was beginning to think she was the only one on this rescue boat so save the idea of her and Leo being together.

"Leo would never think of you like that" Annabeth assured her

Calypso released a small smile "He wouldn't would he? He's different to all the other guys I've liked"

"Leo's different to all the guys I've ever met" Annabeth responded

That made both girls smile and then they fell into a comfortable silence,

"He really cares about me doesn't he?"

"I've never seen someone so smitten" Annabeth answered

"Oh really? Have you not seen Percy look at you?" Calypso joked "I heard you guys were together now, congratulations"

Just then Annabeths phone started to ring, she pulled her phone from her pocket to see Percy flash up on the screen

"Speak of the devil, sorry I should probably answer this"

Calypso nodded before Annabeth got up and walked a few paces away from the bench,

"Hi what's up?"

"Can't a guy ring his girlfriend up just to hear her voice?"

"Not when said guy is supposed to be helping his girlfriend pull of an amazing plan for his roommate"

"And best friend" Leo shouted in the background

"Touché" Percy replied "We're all set, you can set Calypso free now"

Annabeth turned around "Well that's good because she's already left"

Annabeth heard Percy start barking orders "EVERYBODY CLEAR OUT! SHE IS ON THE MOVE" He hung up without say goodbye. Annabeth took a deep breathe and glanced at her phone, this is fine, everything's going to plan, it's going to work.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon was smooth sailing, she spent the afternoon with Leo in the workshop watching him set to work on the final part of their plan whilst the others helped Mr Chiron set everything up in the hall for tonight. So many tools were used that Annabeth couldn't even comprehend what they were for.

"Do you think this will work?" He asked as he started painting his masterpiece

"I see no reason why it shouldn't. It's a small gesture on a grand scale with a meaningful gift" she smiled at him and he stopped working for a second with a grin on his face "I'm glad I met you Chase"

"Can you concentrate on what you're supposed to be doing, we haven't come this far for you to mess it up by complimenting me"

Leo chuckled before setting back to work.

* * *

It was now 11:45PM. Everybody from the school was gathered in the hall ready to start the celebration. Annabeth was wearing the dress that Piper picked when she went shopping for Leo's birthday, the chiffon short dress with a jewelled neckline and a small cut out feature to show her cleavage. When Percy had knocked on the door to pick her up, he jokingly clutched his chest where his heart was.

"It's going to work" he whispered into her ear, his hands placed on her hip and his whole body situated behind her's as they stood in the gym next to majority of their friends except for Leo who was the other side of the room as they waited for his big moment. "Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?"

Annabeth let out a small giggle "I don't believe you have" she lied, he'd said it at least 10 times in the last hour

"Oh really? Well you look beautiful" he said before softly grazing her cheek with his lips.

"You look rather handsome yourself Mr Jackson" she replied with a smile. He was wearing a black suit which was nicely fitted to his body and made him look like an elegant bachelor. He also wore a bow tie which made him so adorable that Annabeth got butterflies every time she looked at him.

They'd had an amazing night so far, they had spent a lot of their time dancing. Everyone else seemed to be drinking but for some reason Annabeth and Percy didn't feel the need to drink tonight, instead they felt tonight would be better spent with a glass only after the countdown.

"It's time" Annabeth said aloud and the whole group looked at each other and prayed that this worked. They turned they attention to the white board that had now been dragged down and to a small figure standing on a chair just to the side of it. The music switched off and the noise of the students died down as they all noticed Leo

"Hey... So as you know it's New Years Eve" he started nervously

There was a big cheer from the crowd of students

"And as it nears the New Year, we use this time to reflect the year we've had...what we've accomplished...what we regret...but most importantly we hope that the New Year brings us something that last year didn't"

Leo takes a deep breathe and glances at his friends, they all gave him an encouraging nod.

"I asked my friends to help me do something to impress a girl a like and I was told the best way to do that was something simple but on a big scale"

A lot of girls Aww'd

"So this is for you Calypso and I hope you enjoy it" Leo jumped off the chair and hit play on the laptop.

The video started with Leo's face looking at the camera

"Is this on? Well that red lights flashing so I'm guessing it is"

The crowd chuckled at him

"So right now I'm going to take you through my day and the plan in making the girl of my dreams fall in love with me,

 ** _Step 1_** \- Have 2 of your amazing friends distract the girl of your dreams"

The camera cut to Annabeth knocking on Calypso's door and Calypso coming out

"God she looks amazing" Leo said on a voiceover of the video

The students laughed at him and watched as Calypso left her room, to see the camera then cut to see Percy, Jason, Frank and Chris entering her room. The camera followed them into the room where they saw Calypso's roommate directing the boys.

" ** _Step 2-_** Decorate her room"

The video then sped up with the boys moving very quickly and finishing the decorating within a matter of seconds. When they were done, the video slowed down and the camera scanned the room.

In the centre of the room the banner read 'Happy New Years' with roses scattered on the floor whilst 100's of photos had been stuck to the walls and as the camera looked up, also the ceiling.

" ** _Step 3-_** Make sure roommate keeps it a surprise"

The video changed to an image of the corridor with the main focus being Calypso's door. After a few seconds Calypso appeared at the bottom of the screen and headed towards her door, just as she was about to enter her roommate stepped out with a bunch of clothes in her hand and a few make up bags balancing on top

"Bianca what are you doing?"

"Zoe suggested we spend the afternoon at hers" Bianca answered with her sweetest smile

Although no one could see it, everyone knew Calypso was giving her a look,

"Ok let's go...did you pick up my-"

"That white dress you had picked out for tonight since we arrived in September? Yeah I got it"

The crowd laughed and Annabeth stretched her head to try and spot Calypso to see her reaction, she leant backwards and whispered to Percy

"I don't see her, do you see her?"

Percy strained his neck and Annabeth watched his eyes as they scanned the room.

Percy shook his head "I can't see her"

" ** _Step 4_** \- Find the girl on the crowded room, give her the gift you finished an hour ago whilst our awesome duet is played" The video on the screen showed Leo's face on one side and Calypso's on the other. Hazel, Clarisse and Piper had managed to edit Calypso's video so that she said the lyrics without even meaning to and with a bit of tweaking they made it sound like she was singing rather than talking. Whilst the video of Leo and Calypso singing Never Forget You by Zara Larsson & MNEK played, all eyes were on Leo making his way to the back of the room where everyone had cleared a path to where Calypso stood, if Annabeth didn't know any better she would have thought Calypso was hiding.

Annabeth gripped onto Percy's hand tighter than she'd planned to as she waited to see Calypso's reaction.

"So I made this for you" Leo said as he pulled out a little wooden box, Calypso opened it cautiously before a hand went flying over her mouth to stop her gasp. Annabeth relaxed a little, knowing what was inside and she was pleased with Calypso's reaction to it. Inside the wooden box, Leo had recreated their date at the bowling alley with a miniature set of wooden pins and a bowling bowl on one side and 2 wooden characters on the other. He had been very delicate when painting them and remembered precisely what the both of them had been wearing. It melted Annabeth's heart when he'd shown it to her and was sure it would do the same to Calypso's. Calypso had a few tears escape her eyes and Leo wiped them away for her

"Are they happy tears or angry tears?" He asked nervously, squinting slightly as he waited for her to answer

"Why would you think these would be angry tears?" She asked a little startled

"Well for doing it infront of the whole school, making a video of you sing, sneaking into your-"

He was stopped when Calypso placed her lips onto his. They stayed like that for a few seconds before finally separating "whoa... That was even better than spin the bottle"

The hall erupted into a small chuckle before the clapping begun and everyone started cheering for them. Slightly embarrassed Calypso hid behind Leo but he pulled her into his chest and kissed her forehead with a big grin on his face. He grabbed her spare hand and dragged her over to his friends where they were all smiling and looking happy for the pair.

"Thank you guys so much for helping me make this happen. Annabeth you're my god, anything you need I'm there!" He pulled her in for a tight embrace and once they separated he took the wooden box out of Calypso's hand placed it on the table and pulled her into the middle of the floor so they could dance.

"I've never seen him so happy" Percy chuckled

"Let's hope it doesn't end" Annabeth smiled as they watched the new couple dance away.

"I for one think we should take a page out of his book and go dance" Jason suggested

"You want to follow Leo's example?" Frank asked in horror

"I never thought I'd hear those words...Jason wants to be like Leo" Chris laughed

"You're not going to let me live this down are you?" Jason sulked

Percy pat him on the back "Not in this lifetime" he smirked before walking past him with Annabeth hot on his heels. He spun her around and pulled her close to him and they swayed to the slow song that was now being played. Their friends soon joined and everyone was smiling as the minutes to the countdown neared.

Percy spun Annabeth around again and she had a huge smile on her face as she faced him again

"I like this feeling" Percy said

"Making me dizzy?" Annabeth questioned with a smil

Percy shook his head "No but it is quite enjoyable watching you spin. I mean being the reason for your smile. I'm glad I get to try and do that everyday. And be able to do this whenever I want"

He put a finger under her chin and tilted her head up so his lips touched her's. It was a delicate kiss, not one where they were desperate for each other to be touching or full of passion, it was unlike any other kiss they had experienced. Annabeth could only describe it as breathtakingly delicate, so gentle at it took her breath away. It wasn't until a few minutes after the kiss that she remembered how to breathe again. The crowd stopped dancing and everyone stood next to someone they wanted to start the New Year with, Percy wrapped his arm around Annabeths waist the same as all the boys did with the girls in their group. They all glanced at each other and smiled, it might not have been the year they'd expected and it definitely didn't go to plan but they'd all ended up here together. As Annabeth snuck a glance at Percy whilst he talked to Jason she wondered if he missed Rachel, whether he felt weird being back here without her. Her thoughts of Rachel were drowned out as the hall roared with the countdown beginning and instead other thoughts were formed...

 **10**

She glanced around the room at the smiles of everyone that filled it.

 **9**

Annabeth was glad she chose this school.

 **8**

She was thankful for the friends she'd made.

 **7**

She glanced at Chris and and Clarisse as they stood together laughing, knowing they worked well together.

 **6**

Annabeth saw the smiles on Leo and Calypso and was glad they finally made it.

 **5**

Frank and Hazel, were an adorable couple and she was happy they were together.

 **4**

Jason and Piper, had been through their share and she had no doubts there would be more but if she had to put bets on a couple making it till the end, it would be them.

 **3**

Her eyes scanned the room and stopped abruptly to make contact with Luke's. He stood with Kelly wrapped round his side, he gave her a small smile and nodded and she politely returned the gesture. She wondered if she and Luke had worked it out' would she even be a little bit as happy as she is now?

 **2**

She glanced up at her boyfriend. His face lighting up as he looked into her eyes. She knew for certain that this is where she belonged. With Percy. She prayed that this year would be easier for them than the last.

 **1**

As long as she had Percy and her friends by her side, she could do anything.

"Here's to the year ahead of us" Percy whispered before placing his lips onto her's. Annabeth was thankful her previous plans with her father fell through because she wouldn't want to miss this for the world.


End file.
